Rainy Days…Projects Galore

It is pretty rare that I buy quilt kits. 

When I do…those kits come to the front of the cue for attention. 

“Flight of Honor,” by Whirligig Designs from Hancocks of Paducah was one such kit. 

I was a little worried when I cut out the kit…sooooo many little pieces. 

The traditional piecing method to make flying geese blocks…yuck. But there was a little wriggle room with the flying geese and I used a Bloc-Loc flying geese ruler to trim the blocks down to size. I bought the ruler for another project. It is very pricey but I think it will get a lot of use. Unfortunately they come in sizes so there isn’t a universal ruler for several block sizes.

What I loved most was the border…and it was so easy to put together.

I also love the way the wonky striped fabric was used in the two star blocks.

The photo below does not do this quilt justice. I just love the simplicity of the design that really uses the line of fabrics to great advantage from Timeless Treasures Tonga Batiks.

I also finished one more, By Annie project. I had just enough scraps of quilted fabrics from one of the bags I made to add another, "Stash and Dash."

I wish I had more time for handwork...so many cross stitch and Bucilla kits I would like to finish before Christmas.

I did get the Jim Shore Santa series from 2021 done. I still have the series from 2020 to start.

But the newest Sandra Cozzolino Santa Series has been moved to the front of my cross stitching list. 

This year the theme is Timberline Santas. This is Scotch Pine Santa.

I finished a few more ornaments in the Bucilla kit, "Partridge in a Pear Tree."

I am still trying to finish one cross stitch ornament every month from the Hearthsewn series, "Twelve Days of Christmas. For years I only made perforated paper kits...I just don't have wall space for cross stitch pictures. Somehow....I always find a way to display cross stitch ornaments. 

One of the outcomes of Covid shutdowns was watching YouTube videos about cross stitch. I have found other options for finishing cloth-based cross stitch and displaying them. Of course figuring out how I want to stitch on fabric has been a journey. I didn't want to use a hoop or frame of any kind. I have been stitching in hand. I tried the sewing method on several of my ornaments in this series but didn't always like how my stitches looked.

With my latest ornament, Six Geese-a-Laying, I dropped the sewing method and learned from a full-coverage stitcher to hold my fabric from the top instead of the side. Such a simple change really helped improve my stitching quality and wasn't fatiguing to my left hand. So happy. Just shows one can always learn something new.

When we have a break in the rain...I'm immediately go outside...trying to peck away at my big landscaping project. I plan to recap my garden season...someday. 

I missed entering any projects in the state fair this year. Of the five quilts I finished in the last year, four were given as gifts and the fifth was a king-size that really didn't warrant a state fair entry. Plus, I'm sleeping under that quilt this summer. 

I was even planning to enter a Bucilla project but the 3D Christmas Tree I finished, which would have been perfect, was just a little too delicate for me to feel good about having others handle it. I like to participate every year because the number of displays has been steadily dropping every year. It makes me so sad! I love looking at all the projects at the state fair...it's the main attraction for me when I go to the fair. 

Thanks for stopping by for my update. 

Passion for By Annie Bags

Almost no quilting has happened this summer.

It’s been a, “By Annie,” production room in my studio.

These are challenging projects...my seam ripper got way too much action!

Most of the time it was the wrong thread in the bobbin that was the problem. I had trouble thinking about the two sides of the fabric being viewed.

I am so thrilled to have these done. The Running with Scissors has a little mat that helps protect all the tools when you close the case.

The Running with Scissors bag opens up to drape on the Take a Stand bag...this will be perfect for retreat sewing.

I had enough fabric to make a 24-inch sewing machine mat. I looked at a free pattern, "Lillyella Maker Mat," to get an idea of sizing for the front pocket.

My main fabric is a multi-color batik I bought on our Kauai vacation in February.

I also had enough of the quilted fabrics to make two more little bags.

Here's the tiny bit of quilting I did...

These two lap-sized tops are scraps from a sampler quilt I finished last fall. They will look great in my living room...when I get around to quilting them.

I am giving myself a double pat on the back for tackling another project that I've been wanting to make for soooo many years.

One of my favorite bloggers is Vicki from Colorways by Vicki Welsh. She saves her batting scraps and makes dog beds for shelters. Having critters that regularly need new beds...this inspired me to save my batting scraps. I had two garbage sacks full of scraps and my cat needed a bed. I used one and a half bags of scraps.

I bought a two-yard piece of precut decor fabric at Walmart. It was perfect for this project. Eli was in the studio when I was sewing...taking up space on one of the dog beds from Costco.

It took him a day to warm up to the new bed...which I put outside in the covered dog run. I have an old kitchen table outside that gives him a little space away from the dogs. The table backs up to a studio window in front of my desk.

I finished two more of the ornaments from the Bucilla ornament kit, "A Partridge in a Pear Tree."

This kit has recently been re-released. It's so nice that Plaid, the company that owns Bucilla, has re-released some of the older kits that were very popular.

We've had a steady stream of critters visit us...though I haven't had a camera on hand most of the time.

A  lovely moose cow...no calves with her.

And the butt of a big black bear leaving our parking pad. 

June Update

eek!!!

That saying about as you get older…time passes more quickly…

I think that is true. No other explanation for June passing at high speed. 

I failed to blog about handwork finishes for a few months. Here’s what I have accomplished.

I started the year tackling two Bucilla kits.

Nordic Christmas Ornaments. Such a fun kit! This kit was given to me by the Plaid Bucilla company. I am an ambassador for their Bucilla felt kits. 

I finished this 3-D Bucilla kit, Christmas Tree Centerpiece. This was a 2008 kit from my stash, 

This kit was a nice little challenge. I spent years looking a the instructions and thinking about making it. As usual…once I started making it…everything came together pretty easily.

I have started a couple of more Bucilla kits from my stash.

I making a set of ornaments, “A Partridge in a Pear Tree.” 

Three ornaments finished.

Love the little French flag on the last ornament.

Cross stitch projects are getting stitched too.

The 12 Days of Christmas is a theme running through my projects this year. 

I’m working on a set of patterns from 2000 , by Heart Strings, that where patiently waiting in my stash.

Partridge in a Pear Tree

Two Turtle Doves

Three French Hens

Four Colly Birds

Five Gold Rings

I have also finished two more Mill Hill Jim Shore Santa ornaments.

Santa with Lights and Santa in Chimney.

Just a quick post to share my handwork finishes. 

April and May Quilty Doings

 Wow! 

Time just zips by once we gain our daylight hours.

I ended April with a quilt retreat with my wonderful group, "Material Girls."

The big event at our April retreat was a mystery.

Here we all our with our finished blocks.

 Yes!!! We look at this gorgeous background while sewing at the B and B we rent for a long weekend. 

 

The main goal was for everyone to finish one block. Below is one block from everyone. 

It was a resounding sucess. We all love our blocks. This is a Debbie Caffrey mystery, "Lasagna."

Our homework is to finish setting the blocks by our next retreat in October. 

Now onto the projects I took to work on at retreat. 

First, I had these scrappy triangle sets left from a completed top...

I had a lot of them! They were made into strip sets.

The colors are so hard to get accurate in photos. 

Below are q    the setting fabrics I think I will use.

This French Braid freebie pattern is my inspiration. Notice how many more rows I have made than required. My big decision is whether to make two lap quilts or one biggie quilt. 

If you've been reading my blog for a while...you are betting on the biggie.

Our group is always trying to come up with challenges. Sandy proposed pineapple block quilts earlier in the year. There were only three of us really interested in doing it .

Below is Sandy's scrappy pineapple. She used a Creative Grids Pineapple Block ruler and liked it very much.

She did a second version...she has a lot of scraps!!!

Joyce used foundation papers from the Fat Quarter Shop. She also like this method.

I immediately thought of a pattern from a magazine I had saved for several years.

I love the border as much as the center pineapple blocks.

Of course....it is a big quilt...finishing at 94-inches square.

The designer, Cathy Wierzbicki, has a really neat method. These triangle blocks will get cut into four, 1 1/2 -strips, mixed up and pieced backwards to make a mock pineapple block.

It took me weeks to pick colors and it was a chore to cut everything. I made a dent in piecing the triangle blocks at the retreat. I probably won't work on this during the summer months but I am excited about this quilt.

My biggest accomplishment at retreat was finishing all the blocks for the, "Sew by Row," quilt designed by Lori Holt. It took me a little searching on Pinterest to come up with a different border idea than Lori's version.  

After retreat, finishing the, "Sew by Row," quilt was my main project. 

Then I turned to finishing up a freebie quilt from my scraps on a previous project.

It seemed like I had thousands of little HSTs. These are the clipped corners that finish at 1 3/4-inch.

Pinterest inspired me to make this block.

It is from this Missouri Star Quilt Company design.

There were no shortcuts in this pattern for putting together all these HSTs.

I got to a point where I just needed to finish it! I came up with a border finish I love. It is a 42-inch square. I still have many HSTs left and I do have another little quilt idea in my head.

My husband gets me to join him on a little outing in one of his planes every now and then. My favorite quick trip is lunch in Talkeetna. There is an adorable quilt shop there, the Patchwork Moose, and a great restaurant, Mountain High Pizza Pie, that I love to visit. Here's our parking spot for our Cessna 185 at the Talkeetna airport. This photo is from April 3rd so I'm sure all that snow is gone now.

I do have more non-quilting projects to share…maybe another post later in the week…but it is gardening season…hopefully it won’t be September before I post another blog.