2016 (Quilt) Year in Review...

Quote for the Day:

"Make this year so amazing that last year gets jealous!"

~author unknown

Thought I'd do a "year in review" about the quilts I've made/finished in 2016...mainly to refresh my own memory!  I know that I should have done this post before the 5th of January...but...well...you know...whatever...

It looks like my first completion was the quilt I made for my sister, Bev..."Cottage Blossoms"

My sister is so adorable that I'm going to post two pictures of her quilt so you can see her with it, too!  😊

The second completion was the "Ugly Quilt"...this was a quilt top that was in a bag of quilt tops that was given to me by a friend...I think they had been made by her mom who had passed away.  Anyway, this one had soooooooooooooo many issues (stains, not laying flat, wide seam allowances, raveling fabric, etc., etc., etc.) that I was going to toss it...actually had it hovering over the trash can...when I decided to sandwich it and use it for "practice" while I took online free-motion quilting classes.  It is now a good utility quilt...something to take to the park, game, camping, etc.  It is warm and has been quilted to within an inch of its life...so feel free to abuse it!  LOL

Completion #3...Alex's 3 year birthday quilt..." 'I Spy'/Bug Jar Quilt"...

#4...I finished hand-quilting the "Cottage Rose Baskets" quilt....my first time doing big-stitch quilting...

Probably the one I am most proud of because not only did I design it using EQ7, it was the one that I was most adventurous with and most satisfied with when it came to the free-motion quilting... Completion #5:  "Christmas Stars" made for my son and daughter-in-law...

And last, but not least was Completion #6...."Oh Christmas Tree".  This quilt was actually started about 3 years ago, but I didn't work on the hand-quilting very often, so it was languishing on the UFO list.  I decided to pop it into my hand-quilting frame and had it done in no time... just in time to be hung on the wall.  It was our one and only Christmas tree this year...

This year I have pieced quilt blocks for other projects that I am currently working on, made quilt blocks for our WV Quilt of Valor group, and even ALMOST completed a quilt (I finished up the second half of the binding on January 1st...so unfortunately, it doesn't "count" for 2017!)...but the six listed here are the COMPLETIONS for 2016.

Loretta

February in Florida...

In February Andy & I went on a vacation to Florida...and Georgia...and the Bahamas...and he even got a trip to Tennessee in there before I joined up with him...

Andy ended up taking the whole month of February off, but I could only get 2 weeks off from my job.  He left here on January 29 and drove to our daughter & son-in-law's place in Tennessee where he stayed for a few days before driving on to our son & daughter-in-law's place in Georgia.   After a few days there...and helping them install a new dishwasher (YAY!!), he drove to Florida where I have 2 sisters with winter homes.  I then joined him on February 10th to start our joint vacation!

I had to drive through snow to get to the airport to leave, so when I arrived in Florida and it was mid-60 degree weather, I thought I was in heaven!  My sister, though, thought it was a bit chilly...thus the neck scarf in this photo!   Here we were waiting to be seated for our lunch at Sage Biscuit in Bradenton.  I definitely recommend the crab omelette!!!  :D

The temperatures quickly warmed up while we were in Florida, so most of the time we were tootliing around in this...

...my sister's VW EOS convertible!!!  

It is a hard-top convertible, so she simply pushes a button and the trunk opens...

...the rear window and hard-top automatically get stowed in the trunk...and then the trunk lowers to close itself!  Pretty neat to watch!  (Of course, I'm easily entertained, too!  LOL)

On day we were headed out to lunch at a restaurant in Cortez...it is one we've eaten at several times before.  However, when we got to it, there was no parking and the line was around the building, so we got back in our car (actually Bev's crew-cab truck...there were 5 of us adults) and headed back towards Bradenton since the line of traffic headed to Anna Marie Island was HORRIBLY long and slow-moving.  As we got back on Cortez Blvd., we saw a restaurant directly to our right and decided to pull in and try it.  We were a little concerned because there were only 1-2 cars in the parking lot, but we were hungry and decided to give it a go.  (While we were there the customers started pouring in.  Evidently, we had arrived just minutes before the lunchtime rush started!) The name was "O'Shucks" and turned out to be FANTASTIC food with a great waitress.  We sat outside and enjoyed the 75-80 degree weather! 

When I went inside to use the restroom, I passed this guy...well...actually a dummy... that was modeling an apron that they sell as a souvenir...

Like I said earlier, I have two sisters with retirement homes in FL...so while in Florida I was able to gift a quilt to my sister and brother-in-law, Bev and Denny.  They are the ones that live in Illinois and hosted us when we went out there last May for their grandson's graduation.

The quilt is called "Cottage Blossoms" and was my choice for Bev because she loves to grow flowers and she likes quilts with a mostly-white background...

(Denny is hiding behind the quilt on the left)

Here the quilt is on their guest bed...(the bed I intended it for!)...

And though they are "free-handed"...( used a stencil to draw them)...it was my first time doing feathers!!!  

The quilt was free-motion quilted on my Juki TL2000Qi ...and let me just say that this is NOT supposed to happen...I accidentally sewed my quilting glove to the quilt!!!  Thank goodness the needle only got my glove and not my thumb, too!!!

More vacation photos to come in the next post!!!  

Loretta

What I've Been Working On...

A couple of weeks ago I began piecing this flower quilt.  The pattern is named "Cottage Blossoms" and is by Lella Boutique.

As you can see, the top is finished but I will put it away for the holidays.  In January, I will bring it out, sandwich it, and machine quilt it on my Juki TL2000Qi.  I don't know if I will piece a backing for it or buy wide backing fabric for it.  I have TONS of yardage that I purchased specifically to make pieced backings, so I'm leaning towards doing that to use up some of my stash.

While piecing the flower quilt, I made these 12 crumb blocks as my "leader/enders".  They are 6.5" square.  (Crumbs are the little pieces of leftover fabric that are too small to be cut into usable strips after you are done making a quilt.)

I have a whole bunch more that I made previously, so I'll add these to them.  I'm thinking of adding star points and making them into star blocks...these crumb blocks would be the center of the stars.

Here's a close-up of the blocks so you can see the variety of fabrics that went into them.  (If you have received a quilt from me, you may see some of the leftover fabrics in these blocks!)

Making those blocks really didn't make a dent in my "crumbs" stash.  (These are 2 of my 3 crumbs boxes.)

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to "big stitch" quilt on the "Pastel Baskets" quilt that is in my frame.

Andy & I have broached the subject of sectioning off a portion of the basement and turning it into a sewing room for me.  Two and a half years ago we moved my sewing room into the "master bedroom" and we took one of the two smaller bedrooms for our bedroom.  However, I really have "outgrown" the master bedroom.  One of the issues with my current sewing room is that there are 2 windows, a door, and a fireplace that take up room/wall space, thus biting into the "usable" space.  If we build a room in the basement there would only be the door into it to take a "bite" out of the usable room, so not only would the room be slightly bigger, it would have more usable space, thus making it more functional.   

We have just started discussing it and it would take some work to get it up and running, so don't everybody hold your breath right just yet.

Loretta

Test Block...

I recently purchased this pattern to make this beautiful quilt...Cottage Blossoms, by Lella Boutique,  

Last night I thought I'd make a test block to see how it goes together...

OOPS!!!  That leaf on the right didn't quite turn out the correct way!  I added those white squares to the wrong corners of the "leaf"!  LOL

And this, Folks, is why I always make a test block first before I dive into the actual quilt!!!  

Other than that sad leaf, I really like the block!  It went together fairly quickly with scraps that I pulled from my scrap-user's system (ala Bonnie Hunter).  These blocks are HUGE!  They finish out at something like 17" x 23.5".  You can't tell it from the picture of the finished quilt, but it is 77" x 81.5".  I think I'm going to add another border to make it slightly bigger for a queen-sized bed.  Anyway...there's only 12 of these blocks to make, so I'm hoping to get it done fairly quickly...right after I put the label on the quilt I just finished up (pics to follow in the not-to-distant future).

Loretta