Sad Day for Me

Good Evening, Hope everyone is warm and safe.

Today is a sad day for me.  It is the One Year Anniversary of my Mom's passing away.  She was 56 years young.  Today, I kept thinking of the call and the waiting and the disbelief.  I was able to keep busy for most of the day which made today easier.  My hubby took the day off to be with me, and I'm extremely grateful to him.

I'll be joining Sandy at Quilting for the Rest of Us in her Slow Quilting Mondays.  Not sure if will committ to Monday's but I will be working on a slow quilt.  The quilt will be made in honor of my Mom.  She was very proud to be Irish and she loved the color Blue.  We ended up taking her antique Waterfall Bedroom set for our spare room.  I've been thinking a lot about Mom and my current passion.  What better way to honor her that make a Double Irish Chain in Blue's for the spare room.  And when I'm finished, if I want to keep it special to myself, no one would really know.

Yesterday I played on EQ7 and came up with this quilt:

I have an idea for the borders and think that it will be really nice for the quilt.  I can't figure out how to put the borders on EQ7.  I'm registered for the EQ class on Quilt University that starts tomorrow.  I'm really hoping to be able to create a lot more soon!

Now I get to play Touchy Feely with fabrics for the quilt.

Have a great night!
Vicky

Another UFO finished - December Block Lottery

Good Evening

Just a warning, this post is jumpy.

Again, I'm sitting on the couch with my little girl laying beside me not sleeping, trying to catch up on past pod casts from Pam on Hip to be Square. And I'm trying out listening at double speed. Its okay, do prefer normal speed, but would love to catch up to current times. LOL

We have no idea how to get little girl to sleep in her own bed and for the whole night. She is like me and when not feeling right, sleep is the first to go. She's been in our bed at some point if not the whole night since before Christmas. She's two months shy of turning 3. Loving the terrible two's - NOT. :)

So to my quilting, I finished the December Block Lottery that was due last month.  I was able to complete in Monday evening.  I need to bring it to my guild meeting tomorrow.
At the November meeting, we were given the pattern and the Beige with Red Poinsettias and had to add the rest of the fabrics from our own stash.  BTW, this is a voluntary lottery.  You are supposed to make the block and bring it to the next meeting.  Then all the blocks are put on display.  Everyone who completed a block, gets to put their name in for a draw.  The winner of the draw gets all the blocks.  Its a great way to use up your stash and if your lucky, get a quilt or two out of it.  There are anywhere from 25 - 35 blocks completed every month.


Last night I found the pattern and fabric for the November Block Lottery.  I didn't get a chance to spend anymore time on it as little girl was needing me again.

I tried to get to it tonight and would have finished it if I wouldn't have remembered about Sandy's interview with Jaye.  Where she talked about Quilt of the Year.  If I'm remembering correctly, at the beginning of the year, she decides on a shape - ex: triangle.  Through out the year, she will cut out that shape from the fabrics she is using.  Then in the last part of the year, she puts all the pieces together to make a quilt.  Its a great memory quilt of the past year.  I loved the idea and thought I hope I remember to do that for next year.  Yea, I did.  Just a few days into the New Year, so all is good.

I had to decide on a shape that I wanted to make for 2012.  I'm already in a HST swap for this year with my guild, so I didn't want to do triangles.  I didn't really think of strips.  What I kept going back to - its gonna be from my scraps, so the sizes couldn't be that big.  So I finally decided on a kind of pattern instead.  Or idea of pattern.  I choose to cut:
      5" blocks, max of 1
      2 3/4" blocks, max of 2  and
      2 3/4 X 5" bricks, max of 1
I'm not sure or can't believe that I will be able to make a quilt, just using current year's scraps.  I'm scared, no, that's not the right word, unsure??  that I don't complete or start enough quilts to be able to have enough to finish.  While typing, I decided, if its turns out to be Quilt of 2 Years or 3 Years, that's okay.  The thing that pulls me the most to make this kind of quilt - All the Memories.   And as someone else said, the quilt has double the love from being handled the first time to have pieces cut and the being handled and quilted into the second quilt.

I was going to work on the binding for my little girl's quilt while I was sitting with her, but this post is taking me a while to write.  I keep getting distracted when I'm looking for the links.  LOL  Its 12:30 in the am, I think I should head to bed.

Good night All.
Vicky

Giveaway at Leona's Quilting Adventure

I just found a Great Giveaway at Leona's Quilting Adventure via Rhonda's Blog. You should check out the prizes.

Hoping to still get downstairs to do some quilting this evening. Thursday is one of my Quilting Guild meetings. I would like to have something finished to take for Show and Tell. They give a prize to someone who participates in Show and Tell. I love prizes (can you tell LOL)

Talk soon
Vicky

TableTopper top finished

Good evening all

I've had a busy few days around home. For the last few days, my little girl has had a fever. And when she's sick, she's attached to me. Very wearing and not very productive.

Well, I've got to play a bit tonight. I was able to put a table topper together from the many Christmas blocks that I made. I used 4 out of the 12.

Here is the single block:

And here is the finished top:

I'm using the white fabric for the backing and the black for the binding. What do you think?

Now I need to figure out how I want to quilt it. I'm not sure if I want to just Stitch in the Ditch r play around with the quilting.

Need to go to sleep. Talk soon.

Vicky

Second Project Finished In the Dark

I was hoping to work on the Christmas Blocks today but that didn't work out. When I finally got up the energy and motivation to go downstairs, my little girl woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep without me. The reason that I wanted to work on those blocks is I bought the material in Mundare at the Chicken Coop about 45 minutes away. I'm going to Vegreville tomorrow which is just past Mundare. I was thinking that if I needed more material to finish the blocks, I could stop at the store on my way home. I don't think I need more material but until I actually put them together, I can't be sure.

The motivation to quilt daily is still quite strong. This is good. :) I grabbed one of the mug rugs that I started sewing the binding on. I figured I could put little girl on the couch beside me while listening to a quilting podcast. Good thought in theory, but I had to turn off the light. My Hug Light saved me. I put it around my neck, turned on OffKilter Quilter, turned off the light, and sewed away. I'm finished.

Here is a picture of my finished Mug Rug, my Hug Light and girlie sleeping.

Have a great evening.

Vicky K

First Project Finished (A little one)

I was finally able to get downstairs after 9:00 today to start quilting. I decided for the first project of 2012 - Do a Charity Block. I also wanted to have this posted by the end of the day. Didn't make it - 15 minutes late. LOL

My charity block is a Friendship star for a friend of mine that asked her retreat members to make using pink for Breast Cancer. Because of other deadlines during the retreat, I wasn't able to complete the block. I told my friend that I would finish the block for her though. Well, Its done.

The pattern was wrong and I had to trim the 4 patch blocks. Here are all the pieces that I had to trim. More for my crumb blocks :).

When I pressed my last seam, I was flooded with memories. The first block I ever made was a Friendship Star. Two friends and myself were taught how to quilt by a friend. We all worked together and would meet at my house once a month. It was great fun and I miss those time a lot. We stopped meeting 3 years ago. I can't believe how much time has passed.

What was the first block that you ever made?

Vicky K

1st Quarter Finish-A-Long Start

Of course, when I'm finally ready to start writing my post after reading all the other participants, my little girl wakes up.  Hope I can get this written and it makes sense.  If you ever read one of my posts and are thinking - "what is she writing? Nothing make sense."  It'll probably be a post my kids were up, beside me, and creating havoc.  LOL.

I took pictures last night of my quilting space, UFO's and Projects-Not-Yet-Started.  Today I posted them on Flicker.  I haven't really played with Flicker before.  So that is what I did this morning.  Hubby was driving my brother and his girlfriend to the bus station, so I thought I would sneak in some time for blogging. 

I'm really excited for the Finish-A-Long.  I usually find out about these Group things, either, 1 - after they have started and is kind of too late to join in, or 2 - after they have finished.  I just read about Quilt 101 by following a link to a fellow participant.  It started and finished last year.  I'm still going to check it out.

So I'm really excited about Rhonda's FAL!!  And if you get to the bottom of my post, you'll understand. LOL.  If you are interested in joining, click on the above button and Rhonda will tell you all about it.

Another new thing for me to try to do today - A Linky Party!!!  I'm new to blogging and hoping to be able to keep up on the posting.  What a great way to have a history of your quilting life.  So many times at my guild meetings, I can't remember what I worked on the past month.  So far so good - Have competed 100% daily posting this year.  LOL  2 days - 2 posts hahaha.

Here is my list for the first quarter (I'm gonna go big in the first quarter, hope not setting myself up for disappointment)

1.  Quilt for my little man- Needs quilting and binding.

2.  Quilt for little girl - Needs binding (have been working on this quilt for 2 years LOL)

3.  Green Mug Rug - Need to sew binding (didn't get these finished in time for Christmas)

4. Red Mug Rug - Binding is 1/3 finished (didn't get finished in time for Christmas)

5.  Blue Mug Rug - Need to sew the binding

6.  Charity Block - pieces cut, need to assemble (challenge was due middle of Sept - still not finished)

7. Christmas Table Runner - Need to hand sew vine, attach and hand sew over 100 leaves and berries, sandwich, quilt, and bind (not sure if this one will be finished in first quarter and is my challenge project)

8.  Black and White Race Quilt - still cutting strips

9.  HST Swap - Still exchanging HST at guild meeting (on one hand I consider this a UFO as I've started it in October and always forget till the am of the meetings that I need to make 36 HST, on the other hand, I consider this a WIP as I can't finish the project until the swap is finished.  Most likely won't be finished in the first quarter)

10.  Tops'N'Tails swap - fabric cut, still exchanging, need to pick zinger color, and start assembling strips (again, not sure will be finished in first quarter)  BTW - this makes 2 quilt tops

11. Circle Dance Quilt - Blocks finished, need to be arranged, assembled, and so on.  I took a class and have had the blocks finished for 1 1/2 years.  Arranging blocks is holding me up.

12.  Mystery Quilt - Needs to be quilted and binding.  The class was finished June 2010.  I think its been sandwiched since May 2011.  Not sure how I'm gonna to quilt and its not for anyone specific, so its been no rush.  Would really like to finish it this year.

13. Christmas Blocks - Made this for a swap that I wasn't able to join, so now I have 12 blocks.  Didn't know what to do with them.  Some gals from my Binding Bunny Group gave me some great ideas last week.  So now I have a plan for them.  I also need to do these quickly in case I need to buy more fabric.

14.  Agatha Christie Mystery Quilt - 3/4 cut.  The Mystery Quilt started in August.  I have started the pre-Step 1 out of 14.  A long way to go.

15.  December Block Lottery for Guild - this was supposed to be finished for the December Guild Meeting but was behind because of Christmas projects.  Need to have this finished for January Meeting.

16.  November Block Lottery - Sorry I don't have a picture of this one.  I just remembered I need to do November's too.  I will have to go through my mess to find it.  It too will need to be finished for January Guild Meeting.  Because I was behind on two months, I didn't take the January block , even though I loved the pattern and fabric.

17.  Postage Stamp Quilt - Not sure if this is considered an UFO too.  Joined a swap and haven't opened the packages to assemble.  I have just assembled my fabrics.  I want this to be a true postage stamp quilt - meaning there are no 2 fabrics that are the same.  So I'm not sure if I have enough stamps.

18.  Reverse Applique Wall Hanging - Took a class at my guild and haven't touched it since the class.  I'm not in love with the fabrics, so this is gonna be a hard one for me to finish.  Maybe I should work on this one soon.

19.  Patchability Hanging - Needs hanging sleeve and has needed sleeve for over a year.  You'd think that this would be easy, but have never made a sleeve before.  Learned how to add a sleeve after I finished the binding. Of Course.  LOL

So here is my list.  WOW!  I didn't think there were that many.  And I know, I still have some more hidden in my stash.  This FAL is great.  Its making me more conscience of my stash.

Happy Quilting!

Vicky

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Did you make a New Year's Resolution?

I haven't made one for my personal life but I have made some for my quilting and blogging.

I would like to work on my UFO's and Projects-Not-Yet-Started this year.  I would like to minimize my stash by at least a fourth during 2012.  I have added my UFO's on the left side of my blog.  I will be adding the PNYS list in the next week.
I know that there is another name for "Projects-Not-Yet-Started".  Please leave a comment if you know what the other name is?  I would love to know.

I'm working on taking pictures of my UFO's to show.

Talk soon
Vicky