Just gonna catch up for a minute and then disappear for a couple more weeks. I can't seem to keep up with everything going on lately, so if it seems like I've been checked out for awhile, that's probably why. I'm not at total overwhelm, but close.*Ugghh What has happened to my life? Plentiful quilting time seems like such a luxury these days!
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| Another border for Peace Always |
I managed to finish another quilt, Blue #2! It was hard to decide how to quilt around the cameo flower area, but once that was settled, then it was relatively fast stitching.
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| Blue #2 is completed! |
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| Always good to have improv. strips in the hoop |
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| Is it a sunflower or a daisy? |
I've been in a flurry of getting things prepped and ready for 'the next phase' this past couple weeks. With the holidays right around the corner, I know the quilting side of things will slow down and then, if I'm not careful, all the momentum could be long gone.
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| All the prep work for another Autumnal Tulips quilt |
Are you ready for the next BBI QAL prompt? It's pretty much what you'd expect: Add simple floral applique to your centerpiece background. That's it. Easy peasy! There are a couple options here. No doubt there are patterns at home you can browse through to borrow applique elements for this exercise. Or, you can do something much more fun and interesting. Learn how to implement it in a freehand, free-spirited way! Whatever you do, try to keep the final applique relatively uncomplicated so as to not spend unnecessary hours attempting to get the pieces sewn down. We ...
read moreLots of applique prep going on this week! It takes an enormous amount of time, but now there's several projects all ready for stitching attention. This is the first awkward tulip {out of three} in the Good Vibes quilt. The stem, underneath circle and one side of the petals are stitched onto this one, still have to stitch the other petal and both leaves.
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| A little more stitching... |
So one of the questions I get asked pretty often is this: how many projects are you currently working on? Well, most of the time, it's a number somewhere between 5 and 10. And that doesn't even count the quilt in the hoop or if I'm finishing off the binding on yet another quilt.
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| The new medallion quilt |
It's been a busy couple of weeks. We had to leave town for a couple days to attend a cousins funeral and then last weekend, our grandkids came to visit. Yay! We're always up for that. Plus, there was a bridal shower for our new-to-be daughter-in-law. Wedding the end of April in Oklahoma! And our oldest daughter is expecting their first child. So very exciting. Shaping up to be one of those years. I almost turned the commenting off on the blog 'cuz I've been such a terrible blogger lately. It's all I can do to ...
read moreAs per usual, the lure of the applique trips me up. No matter which projects are supposed to be 'next' in line, you can guarantee there'll always be time found for applique prep. Gotta make sure the hand work bag stays full!
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| The start of Orphan Annie |
So here we go, Coronacrazy borders are all stitched down and the top is complete!*whew This one has been a long slog, in more ways than one. It was started in March of 2020 on a total whim, with the end result always being up in the air. In fact, the end product wasn't even of much concern until later. It was all about keeping busy-hands, mind, body and spirit.
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| Coronacrazy borders are on |
*Remember! The Christmas Giveaway is still open through December 25th!* All year long I've felt like I'm back in junior high, always the last one to finish up the 5K run. Here I am though, finally running across the finish line! The last AHIQ prompt had to do with symmetry or asymmetry, whichever felt least comfortable to us.
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| The new baby quilt |
I cannot believe we are this close to Christmas again! Where did the year go? Fed-Ex finally delivered our tree today, so maybe we can get into the proper holiday spirits after the tree lights start twinkling. Last year I gifted an applique template during this time of year and it seemed to be well received. Well over a hundred 'Yes, please! I want that!' comments plus emails, which really, is the best sort of compliment. Cozy quilts seem to be the thing we most want to work on during the holidays.
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| The older {Happy Flowers} Love Apple blocks |
The Crossroads blocks sort of jumped to the head of the line. They just weren't happy hanging out in the handwork bag any longer. I'm having so much fun stitching these down though! Love the fact that the circles are not meant to be perfect, never will be, don't wanna be, the end.
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| Crossroads blocks on the wall |
I've been busy, busy. Trying to get lots of applique prep done over the last weekend while my daughter was away on vacation. It was waaay past time to pull out Coronacrazy and just get moving on it. While the centerpiece has been done since January, the only thing accomplished since that particular push was the foundation work for this applique border. Letting it sit around and gather dust was only making me feel guilty and even more apprehensive about how it was going to turn out.
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| Will have to stitch down the corners later |
I'm slowly getting a little bit of quilting done on Bullseye Medallion. I say 'slowly', because it seems like I've been skipping every other night lately. Oh well. At least there's something happening with it even if it doesn't look like much!
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| Hand quilting Bullseye Medallion |
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| Little doll quilts |
First things first, right? This past week has been for working on the Crazy Daisy blocks. Finally got the petals totally sewn down.*Whew! Thought that might never happen! Then it was time to cut out the flower centers. The bright citrussy greens just hit all the right notes so here they are, sewn onto the flowers by machine. No reason not to sew them raw edge style as the darker brown arches will be hand sewn down directly over the tops.
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| Crazy Daisy Blocks almost finished up! |
Here it is! A completed quilt top for the Positive Thinking challenge over at the AHIQ blog. This prompt was introduced in June of 2020, more or less encouraging us to keep going with whatever form our creativity allowed considering the stresses of the year. Doing anything 'positive' based seemed like a reach at the time {and even later}, but turned out to be a really great idea. Most of the intention behind what I do is for a cozy, happy, comfy outcome, and it was a timely reminder to keep on trying.
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| Positive Thinking quilt top is done! |
It seems like a good time for an applique project update. Anyone who's followed me for any length of time knows that there is always a stack of hand work lurking behind the scenes, or at the very least, in the corners of my mind.
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| Applique done on Improv. HST Medallion border |
Do you remember the Big Kiss quilt? Over the winter I decided that it probably needed more attention and pulled it out of the finished quilt top drawers for further scrutiny. {Or maybe it wouldn't quit haunting me?} After much pondering, I finally decided to go for it. The applique that I decided on has been prepped and waiting for quite awhile, just patiently waiting their turn in the queue!
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| Big Kiss quilt top is finished! |
Last week found me taking pictures in anticipation of another blog post and then life just got way too crazy. Still running very behind with household chores, errands, bookwork etc., so I'm doing this as quickly as possible.
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| Wing and a Prayer is done! |
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| Scraps a few plus a few orphan geese |
