Life on Easy Street

I completed Step 3 of the Easy Street Mystery over at Quiltville.  I am enjoying this, and look forward to Friday for the next Step!  You can see how others are doing by checking out Bonnie's post here! 

Easy Street

Bonnie Hunter has started a new mystery quilt over on Quiltville called "Easy Street".  Each Friday, Bonnie posts a new step in the mystery.  Here are my first 2 steps...192 four patches, 128 flying geese units, and 64 rectangles!  As I am using fabric from my stash, I chose a different colorway than Bonnie.  For this quilt, my four main colors will be red, blue, green, and gold/yellow with a light tan/beige for the background.  For a parade of blocks from other participants in the Easy Street mystery, head on over to Quiltville!

November's Block

Another month has passed...it is nearing December already!  Here is my version of the November block from the Quilt Square Quilt Along over at Jo's Country Junction.  One more month to go, and this Quilt Along will be history!  Then, I will need to decide what to do with  the blocks. 

I've also completed more rows on the Row Along over at Bee in My Bonnet, and have started the new Bonnie Hunter mystery, Easy Street, over at Quiltville!

October QSQA

I made it!  I am getting this in under the wire, but I did complete it in October!  Woo-hoo!  I love the stars, and this was an easy one to complete.  As usual, I used my Kansas Troubles scraps.  Head on over to Jo's to see the other blocks completed this month.

I've also made progress on the Row Along strips.  Just didn't get a picture taken...maybe I will post some pictures later in the month...maybe!

September Finish and a New Start!

I finished my September block for the QSQA.  It went quick, and was fun to do.  The pattern called for only 2 fabrics for the center of the block, buy I wanted to stay with my scrappy theme and used multiple reds and creams from my Kansas Troubles scraps.

I also completed the first row of the Row Along over at Bee In My Bonnet.  I'm doing this with a group of friends.  I've always wanted to make a "row" quilt, so this seemed like the opportunity to do so.  I had originally wanted to make this using  my 30's stash, but decided to use up some of my large Thimbleberries supply instead.  Lori, over at Bee In My Bonnet, has lots of tutorials on her site, including how to make 4 patches in a fun way!  I used her  method to make this row, and it went FAST!

August Finish

I completed my August block for the Quilt Square Quilt Along over at Jo's Country Junction. This month, it was my choice of the remaining blocks from Lori Smith's pattern #4, so I chose the Double T.  Here's my version using the Kansas Troubles fabrics.

July Block

I'm late in posting my block.  I just wanted to show that I did make my July Quilt Square Quilt Along block.  I went on vacation at the end of July, and when I returned in early August, my computer had died!  So, no way to post what I had finished until after I bought a new one.  Well, here it is!  Used my Kansas Troubles fabrics...again...as usual!!

I'm working on my August block, so will have it to show shortly!

June Block

I finished my Quilt Square Quilt Along block for the month of June!  Woo-hoo!  Lots of little pieces, so I paper pieced this one using my Kansas Troubles scraps.  If you'd like to play along, head over the Jo's Country Junction for more details!

May Block

I just returned from my annual quilt retreat in Indiana.  It's always loads of fun and fellowship!  While there, many of us in the QSQA group made our May blocks.  This month's block was from Lori Smith's Quilt Squares #4 pattern, with the "Trip Around the World" being the featured sew along.  This block was quick and easy, and so much fun, that several other Ladies at retreat decide to make one right along with the rest of us!  As in previous months, I used my Kansas Troubles scraps.

Now to await Jo's selection for the month of June!

Staying True

Here's my April block for the Quilt Square Quilt Along at Jo's Country Junction.  For April, we were to select the block of our choice from those remaining in Lori Smith's Quilt Squares #1 pattern.  I chose the applique block.  I had started this block with needle turn applique, but quickly decided that I would not have time to finish it before the end of April, so I made a second block and used the machine applique method.  Did I need to make 2 blocks?  No...but I wanted to stay with my commitment to make a block each month.  I prefer the needle turn applique method, but wanted to take my time and do a respectable job on the workmanship.  As with previous months, I used my Kansas Trouble scraps.

March Finish

I completed the March block for the Quilt Square Quilt Along.  This was a fun one to make.   I love stars, so that added to the merriment of the process.  I'm still using my Kansas Troubles scraps, although, not very much seems to be leaving the scrap bin!

Bear Paw

I finished the February block of the Quilt Square Quilt Along.  I completed this block with just a few hours of February left!  Whew!  Not sure I like the dark blue border on it, but I'm leaving it for now.  Now, on to the March block.

Happy New Year!

Okay...I'm a little late.  Yes, it is the middle of January, but as the saying goes, "better late than never".  Right?

I've been working on a Block of the Month with Jo's Country Junction called "Quilt Square Quilt Along".  We will be using 3 different patterns from Lori Smith's designs, specifically Quilt Squares #1, Quilt Squares #4, and Quilt Squares #6.  Each month, Jo will select a block to make from one of these patterns.  This is the block for January.  I used my leftover Kansas Troubles fabrics.  The block measures 12" square. Why don't you hop on over to Jo's Country Junction and join the fun!

Finishing

I have been working on finishing up some of my UFO's.  I recently took a trip to my sister's house in Arizona, and made some progress on my slowly, but surely, dwindling pile of unfinished projects. 

 My sister owns a Gammill, so that made quilting the completed tops a breeze! 

 This was made from blocks from a BPF swap.

This UFO, entitled "Red Tidings" was made using scraps.  It measures 80" x 80".

In all, 10 UFO's were quilted, bound, and crossed off the "To Do" list!  Hooray!

Sweethearts

My little Sweet Pea has been here for the past few weeks.  We have had loads of fun and made just as many memories.  Sweet Pea loves to watch the Food Network and is constantly coming up with new recipes, like her special "Veggie Pizzaz"!  Our trip to the library resulted in a cookbook entitled, "Mom and Me Cookbook" by DK Books.  She picked out the recipe she wanted to make, and we began...

 First, we made jam from the strawberries from Papa's (great grandpa) garden.

 Then I mixed up some cookie dough, and Sweet Pea rolled out and cut the cookies.  I placed them in the oven to bake.

 When cool, I frosted one cookie with butter cream icing, and my little Sweetie tenderly added the jam.

 Next, the second cookie was placed on top, and voila!

 Strawberry Jam Sweethearts!

They were sooo yummy...and they went very fast.  My compliments to the Chef!

Finally, A Completed UFO!

I am finally able to work on whittling away at my UFO list.  This Zigzag quilt was on the list (notice the past tense here!!)  It's now finished and donated to my local Project Linus chapter.  The fabric for this quilt came to me as a bag of scraps.  Putting it together was quick and fun.  I did the machine quilting myself, although it has been more than a year since I have quilted anything on my machine, and it shows!  Boy, was I out of practice.  I thought about taking the quilting out and starting over, but that's not going to happen.  So I officially declared it DONE!

Now on to another UFO, as well as getting projects ready for the upcoming retreat in May.  I'm way behind!

Snowman Gift

Recently, two of my friends(Michelle and Peggy) have posted on their blogs, cute little snowmen quilts displayed on a wire frame. I just loved them! I became inspired to make one, too, but knew it would just turn into another UFO. Really, I'm trying very hard not to create more UFOs. To my surprise, a package came from my sister the other day. Can you guess what was inside?!! Yep!! My very own snowman quilt in a cute little wire frame!! My sister embroidered the snowman in red (my favorite color) and embellished him with some cute snowflake buttons. Woohoo!!

Wool Round Robin

I'm taking part in a Wool Round Robin with some friends from my May Retreat group. We will be passing these around each month until May, when we will reveal the final results at retreat. Each person in my group (there are 4 in each group) will add to the wool round, that I started at right, bringing it to life with cute appliques and embroidery embellishments. I started my "on the farm" themed wooly with a little sheep. Baa!

If you want to see what several others in my group have started off with, check out Michelle's and Laura's blog.

Using It Up

This past year, I've been trying to use up the vast stash of fabric that I have in my house. I've made a number of quilts from my scraps, but the pile just isn't going down! This quilt is one I made yesterday from a dozen fat quarters that I had on hand. Even the borders came from my stash. The pattern is one I have had for many-a-year...it's a "stack and slice" technique...and is extremely easy and fast to construct. It will be quilted and given to the child of one of our fallen troops through my local Project Linus Chapter.

Has anyone else been successful at using up their stash? I know there are lots of blogs out there that are dedicated to stash busting if you are needing ideas on how to sort, cut, and use up that ever-growing pile of fabric!

...And All Through The House...

...not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse! It is soooooo quiet here. My little Sweet Pea went home on Thursday, and now the house is practically empty! I miss her already.

I was finally able to get back into my sewing room. It's been a very long time, and much has been neglected. I was able to make a set of tea towels for a friend's birthday. Our birthdays are a day apart, and we were going to go to lunch today, but the icky Midwest weather decided to show itself, so we have put it off until next week (hopefully). The poor quality photo shows the towels. I hope she likes them!

Now, off to find another project to work on...the Good Lord knows I have way too many started!