Mercy Border Quilt Finished

Our first year of PQA, we did our Mercy Border Quilt project.

Basically, each person made a center square and then we swapped each month and a new border was added to it.  Our quilt was growing at the "mercy" of whoever was putting on the next border.

It was actually very fun and we saw some amazing borders.

Well, this is mine.  I started with a Circle of Geese block in the center and this is how it grew.

 I wanted it to grow into a rectangle, so half way through the year I added the two mini Circle of Geese strips to each end, and it continued to grow...

 It ended up being just barely smaller than a king size!!

Much bigger than I intended but it has a great drape on the sides of my bed.

I love the colors too.

What a fun project that was!!

Rainbow Birthday

My sweet little "L" turned seven!

I can't believe how time flies.

My Mom, who taught me to sew and who loves to quilt like me, made her this beautiful quilt for her birthday.  When Grandma asked what what she liked she said, "rainbows and butterflies!"

Can you tell?  You almost can't even see her with her rainbow dress on too. ;)

The center of each rainbow square is butterflies with glitter.

(Glitter would definitely be on her list of favorites too.)

 Grandma hit that nail right on the head.

It was love at first sight!

She was even excited to read the label on the back to us all.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

(Thanks, Mom!)

New Brother!

So, my neighbor took her car into the shop for routine oil change 

and came home with a brand new car. 

After chatting with her and ooo-ing and ahh-ing over the beautiful new ride, 

I went back to my sewing....

On my new Brother.

Then I busted up laughing!!

I did the same thing!!!

I took my old Bernina into the sewing machine shop to fix a repeat problem...

And came out with a brand new machine!!!!

A gorgeous new Brother!

I'm in love all over again.

Happy Stitching!

I am!!

Elephant Swoon #8 and #9

The last two Elephant blocks are done!!

Yippee!!!

I really love this one.  It is so rich and hits me inside somewhere....

This one is just BOLD!!

All nine are done and now I can start putting the quilt top together.

Christmas Projects - 2013

This Christmas, I made a whole mess of aprons for gifts.

Here's the kid's collection:

I made four girl's aprons but they were all pink and purple just like those, and then the three boys "Monster Smocks."

The girls patterns came right out of my little head.  Maybe I'll have to write it up some day to share.  The boys "Monster Smock" pattern I found at JoAnn's a while ago.  The mouth is a pocket!!

So Cute, huh!! 

Next up is the men's collection - for three brother's in law.

(What a handsome model! work it, Work it!)  ;)

And the women's collection:

For three sister's in law... and one for me, of course.  

I loved them all but I kept the orange and blue one for me.  ;)

Yes, I made up that pattern too.  

It's actually a simple variation of the men's pattern that I bought years ago.

Here's some more of those adorable pot holders.

These two sets I made for my Mom and sister as part of their 12 gifts of Christmas set.

This is their 12 Gifts of Christmas!

-slippers

-magnetic note pads

-note cards

-ornaments

-hot pads

-Lindt chocolates

-glass magnets

-eos chapstick

-Hersheys candycane white chocolate bars

-gloves

-framed picture

-silicone basting brushes

-tic tacs

I know that's 13 items but two of them I wrapped together.

I did 12 little packages all inside one big box.

It was a lot of fun!  I think I might do it again next year with some other fun goodies.

It was a Merry Christmas!

Ugly Fat Quarter Challenge

At our PQA meeting last month, Shannon gave each of us an "ugly fat quarter." The challenge was to make something with the fat quarter. We had to use at least 50% of it and we could add other fabric to it if we would like.

This is what I made!!

Two heart shaped pot holders. 

This is the "ugly" fabric. I think it's actually quite pretty. It just needs the right fabric to go with it. I added some pink polkadot for the inside.

I found the pattern for these through Pinterest, of course, at this site:

youcanmakethis.com
 
 

So fun, huh! I love them and I can't wait to make some more... Maybe for Christmas...

 

 

Elephant Swoon #7 and So On

Here's the next one in my collection. 

Each one is so unique!

I'm really enjoying putting them together.  I just wish I had more time to spend on them. 

It's canning season at my house and I'm drowning in fresh produce that needs to be "put up."

I guess you can say I'm barely keeping my thread above water. 

 

That's the apple sauce I just finished. Nice to have that done. (Closer to more  sewing time.)

Next I've got sweet pumpkins to do. 

I love the fall, but oh, so BUSY!

 

 

Elephants 4, 5, and 6!

So, we were gone the entire summer living in the central mountains of Idaho.

It was a fantastic summer adventure for the whole family.

We loved it but I really miss my sewing machine when we're gone.

I had some real catching up to do.

And here they are:

Elephant Swoon #4

Elephant Swoon #5

Elephant Swoon #6

So fun, huh!!

Sewing Lesson #1 - Pillow

I guess her official start was a while back when I let her sew some lines on paper without thread.  She first sewed straight lines that I drew on a paper.

Then she sewed along curved lines and other shapes.

After some time, she showed some interest again.

She's nine now, and she asked me to teach her how to sew.

I was delighted, of course, to see her interested in something I find so much pleasure in.

I asked her to make a list of things she would like to sew.

Then I looked it over and chose what I thought would be the easiest to start with.

We started with a pillow.

She chose some fabric from my stash, and we got to work.

We talked about: cutting, right-sides-together, seam allowances,

turning right-side out, etc.

She did a fantastic job!

I'm so proud of her and she loves it.

I hope she continues to love it like I do.

Black, White and Blue All Over

It doesn't happen nearly often enough.

I have finished a quilt!!

 This one started as the block swap we did last year in PQA.

I chose the block pattern and the color scheme.

Then, each month someone else in the group would make me a block to add to the collection.

That gave me 12 and then I made 12 more so I could have a bigger quilt.

 It ended up measuring about 68 x 92.

Big enough for one of the kid's beds.

I'm a kinda sucker for secondary patterns and this one has some great patterns.

I quilted it myself with the new walking foot my husband gave me for my birthday.

(He's so great about knowing exactly what a girl needs - could have something to do with the running wish list I have....)  ;)

Happy Stitching!

Karyli

Elephant Swoon #3

Here's number 3!!

I'm loving each one more and more.

Elephant Swoon #2

Another one done!

A friend suggested the orange elephant for the center.

I think it's a great contrast.

Beautiful, huh!

Swoon Elephant #1

A select few of the 33 little elephants get a 

place of honor in the center of a Swoon block.

Here's the first one finished!!

What do you think?

I think it's pretty darn awesome!

Can't wait to show you the next one...

33 Elephants

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

How do you sew 33 paper pieced elephants?

One piece at a time.

These cute guys are 4" each and made of gorgeous batiks.

The pattern came from A Quilter's Arc .

They will all be a part of an amazing quilt in the near future.

Now, I've got some serious paper to pick off the backs while I watch some movies...

Code Name: SQ

This has been a secret for months... known as "SQ."

I can finally reveal it to the world!

I have a dear friend named Stacey.  Her husband came to me early in the year - maybe February! - and asked me to make a quilt for her birthday - in November!

The problem was that Stacey is not really a patchwork quilty kind of person... 

more of a lacy, elegant type.

I searched and searched for the perfect pattern that would fit her personality.  

Nothing seemed right.

She had pinned one similar to this one on Pinterest and it hit me that this had to be IT!

I set out to recreate it.

After months of hand work... Ta Da!

It's made of two king-size sheets sewn together.  Finished size: Queen.  Color: bone.

Each pucker I had to sew by hand.

Then we (my wonderful husband and I) tied the entire thing by hand at each pucker.

(That was a long weekend but I could't have done it without him.  He's my favorite consultant on any project.)

I had to make a throw pillow to go with it.

It is made of two pillowcases.

The quilt was from her husband, but the pillow was from me.

Oh, I just love it!

She did too!

Isn't it lovely!

Happy Birthday, Stacey!

For those in Need

I know, it's been a while since I've been on here.  We had a wonderful summer at scout camp and we all made it back alive.  We returned in time to get ready for school and normal life has had us spinning in circle ever since.

Not so much though that I haven't squeezed in some sewing, of course.

In our Parma Quilter's group, we decided to work on some charity quilts together.  Our church is donating about 70 quilts and pillowcases to a local shelter.  Here's how I joined in on the fun:

 

First, we did one girl and one boy quilt and we each made about five nine-patches for each one. 

For a girl quilt we decided on black, white and one bright color.  I took the stack of blocks home to put together the quilt top.

I started with all these fun blocks:

 

...And this is how I put them together:

I really like it!!  I think some teenage girl somewhere will love it!!

 

For our boy quilt, we did the same thing but we used blue and white with one red square in each nine-patch.  It turned out great too.  You'll have to go to our PQA site to see it though.

 

We wanted to do more than that so we decided to do a fabric swap and make some plus-sign quilts.

We each donated a variety of fabric in sets of five blocks (since a plus sign requires five blocks each.)  Then we each put together a quilt top with what we received.

Here's my block collection:

 ...And here's the layout I came up with:

Loved that one too!!

 

What a fun way to share with those in need.  The finished quilts will be delivered to the shelter in early December.  I feel honored to have been a small part of it.

April's Accomplishments

April's finishes are much like the last few months because I'm working a little on each project.  It may seem like reruns to you but to me is baby steps forward.  This may be the last one of these posts for a while... I'll explain later.

Let's start off with my swaps:

BSA:  I received this fantastic block from Barbara S.

This is the block I made for her.  I really like how it came out.  It's going to be part of an amazing quilt. 

For the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap, I received these from Linda G.

One has bananas and the other has little bees.  Cute!

 These ones I sent to Simona S. in Croatia.  She just asked for bright colors.

In PQA, we decided to do a surprise set of blocks for one of our ladies.  She has had to drop out of our group due to health issues so instead of leaving her behind, we finished her blocks all in one month.  She asked for simple nine-patches with pastels.  These are the three I made for her.

I made these two for my PQA swap partner this month, Sheryl.

 And, these are two more of my own pattern to add to my collection.

On to my on-going projects.

More wonky botany diamonds.

I took all of those crazy mosaic blocks and put them together in a top.

I don't know... kinda makes my eyes go wild.

I just need a back for this one and then I'll quilt it and have it finished.

It might be a good one for the tv room or even the camp trailer...

So, starting in June, our family will be on a summer-long adventure.  We will be working as counselors at a summer camp.  We are so excited about this opportunity.  Especially for the fun we will have with our kids in the mountains.  I will be able to take my sewing machine along (I'm going to need some personal therapy time), and there are some cute little fabric shops in the nearby town.  I plan to continue swapping blocks and doing whatever sewing I can so I'll post here with some of my "sewing in the mountains" adventures.

Happy Stitching,

Karyli