Quilting

My January “blue” project is to get the last of these three Quilts for Kids done, since I’ve had them checked out since before my accident. This week I got all the zipper blocks sewed together so next week will be putting together the top & adding the borders for the win!

My other project this week was to start my first ever Elizabeth Hartman pattern. Everything for the 4-block quilt was in the bag, so I brought it to the apt. as a good project to work on here. The pattern & fabric were all still tied up in the plastic bag from the quilt store, so I opened it up this week to sort it all & figure out what I’d been thinking when I purchased all the fabrics. Great question! First off, I looked at the receipt & this was all purchased in August 2018. Sheesh! It’s been in my studio closet for 4 1/2 years waiting for me to sew it up!! Her instructions are to get FQ in various colors, so I did that based on what the picture looked like. As I got into the nitty-gritty instructions for cutting, I realized that the only FQ I had that would work for an animal was the off-white for the seal, but I had a weird woven blueish color that I guess was supposed to be for the other three animals, but it didn’t match well. Also, I needed a FQ for each. So no, I didn’t have everything I needed & a trip to the quilt store was in order. Because you know, my scraps are all packed up! Armed with a detailed list plus swatches for matching, I got this walrus fabric, plus enough for the otters & the narwhal. Then I started cutting & sewing. Ended up with a little wonkiness with all those tiny pieces, but overall, my first EH block is a success. And I did a blue one for January!

How’s this for some January blue sewing? I processed a ginormous pile of jeans a couple of years ago into bags of different sized strips so they were ready to make into quilt tops. And they sat in my studio closet until the great pack-up. I decided to bring them to the apartment because it seemed like relaxing sewing, plus an old project that could get finished up. These are strips being sewn end-to-end in a giant chain piecing stream.

I got top #1 made this week from those strips. It will be a donation quilt & since my quilting partner got a long-arm for her December birthday & needs practice quilts, I got some backing & batting & will let her do the quilting rather than send in the top & let other volunteers do the quilting. So wins all around! (Evening in the apt for photo shoot so the colors are muted-there’s much more blue like in the first shot!)

This is what’s left after making the first top. How many quilts do you think I can make from these strips???

The list!

I didn’t take a photo of Songbook before taking it to the quilter last week, but that was my first apartment finish. The kit was a Mother’s Day gift in 2021 from my hubby, but because of supply chain issues, it didn’t arrive until the fall. I was heavy into finishing Christmas gifts & let it lapse. I started sewing the stars in July 2022 just before surgery & the Great Fall stopped all sewing for months. So in November when I could sew again, I started slowly working on it as therapy from the stress of packing & got the blocks done & sewed together before the move. My hubby gave me a coupon for Christmas that said I could go get it quilted, so I got the borders on after Christmas & got it to the quilter! (We have a moratorium on getting things quilted during this period, but he was sweet. This quilt is for me to keep, so he decided to just do it.) I also made the binding & that’s blue for the month!

I’ve been doing this relaxing string piecing for Bonnie Hunter’s Cherry Crunch & have all 448 little blocks made. They get red corners so I’m going to put them away for the red month. Then I can play along with y’all.

My “blue” project for January is to finish the Quilts for Kids kits I checked out before the accident. I’ve had them for months now & feel guilty, so they are my priority. I got #1 done previously, but I finished #2 this week. #3 has the blocks in progress.

I finished the last of the Sweet Kisses blocks (in green), then started putting together the top for this RSC2022 project that I brought with me. I don’t love sewing big rows together, so I’ll probably do a row here & there until it’s done. But I adore it so far.

I cut out all the pieces for Sweet Kisses in January & have just been sewing the correct color blocks each month. I looked in the box & there were orange & green left, so here are the orange blocks I managed to sew together! I also worked on the blocks for my Songbook quilt, so that will be a flimsy soon. I had picked up 3 zipper block kits for Quilts for Kids before surgery, so I’m slowly sewing those together & will finish those in the apartment.

I finished the binding for this RSC2021 project of my own design. Plus is made from all 2.5″ squares & is a Christmas gift for a nephew & his new wife. I love how it turned out & have ideas for another one with variations. Maybe a project for RSC2023??

I also made 4 Disappearing 4-Patch Covered in Love blocks for the July/August drive in case I don’t get any more made with my hands out of commission. They are for Project Linus in Uvalde, Texas this time.

Here’s my purple for this month: the Sweet Kisses & the Shine blocks. They were all cut out at the beginning of the year, so I was able to just sew them up. I’m hoping to get caught up next month before I have the procedure on the other hand, but I have to do the Festival quilt plus finish one more Christmas gift, so I may be finishing up my scrap colors in December! That’s life. 🙂