I have managed to finish yet another
quilt! My closet is gradually emptying
out and that makes me feel like I'm
actually accomplishing the task that
I set out to do.

This quilt top below; I've blogged about
sometime last year. I had this fabric
for a couple of years (I think).




I had bought two packs of fat quarters and
forgot who the manufactured the fabric.
I know I bought it at The Old Country Store
in Intercourse; so I brought some scraps in
to see if they had more of it. The woman there
told me "oh that's old".
The reason that I wanted more of this fabric
is because I decided that I did want borders
on it. Previously, I didn't.

To me the colors in this quilt top
reminded me of Amy Butler colors.
So, now I'm thinking and thinking of what
to do and decided to go to The Sassy Tassel
in Lititz - they have bolts of her fabric.
I found one that "almost" matched and went
with that.


I took whatever scraps that I had left and
made a small border around. Then took
the Amy Butler fabric and made another
larger border. I wasn't happy with the way
it looked so I thought about making squares
of Amy's fabric and adding it to the center of
the bento-like boxes. Then adding more
scraps around the border. I liked the way
it worked and machine appliqued the squares
on.

Now that it was finished; I gave it to Kim
to longarm.

Can you see the humming bird that she quilted on it!

There are also leaves and flowers but the
humming bird is my favorite!

Kim also quilted my Carpenter Wheel quilt top,
from Mimi and Norma's class.

I'm donating this one to Quilts of Valor.

Look at the stars and swirls that Kim quilted on
this top. Love this pattern and great for QOV!

******************************

Don't know which end is up?


Have a great week!

Wordless Wednesday

The American Quilter's Society Lancaster show
- Three ladies from my Guild were among the
Semi-finalists! If you missed the winning quilts
Click Here to see them.

Nancy Kerns - won
Best Hand Workmanship Award for her quilt
"Mary Simon Rediscovered".

The Lancaster Host - Vintage Revisited Exhibit

The curator of this exhibit was Mary Kerr.
You can read more about the challenge Here

I really enjoyed this show because I got to
see the quilts of quilt artists whose work
I had admired for a long time!

Here's an overall view.

I wish that I could have taken a photo of every
single quilt.

Linda Cooper - "A Quilter's Caravan"



Paula Golden "Riches"


Jeannie Roulet Minchak - "Two Friends"


Judy Gula - "Painted Ladies"



Paula Golden - “Women’s Lives”

Paula incorporated the backs of bras into her quilt!

Hope you enjoyed looking at the photos!

I have been spending less time on
the computer and more time getting
some of my quilting projects done.

Trying to use up my stash making some
small quilts.
I used all scraps for this little quilt
and am happy for the way it turned
out.




and a couple of Charity Quilts.

One of the ladies from my guild had
passed away a couple of years ago.
Her daughter had donated some fabric
from her mom's stash.
I took a bag that contained some squares
and half square triangles. So far I made
3 quilts from that bag for Charity.


This is the lastest and I used up
the half square triangles on this one.
There wasn't very many of them and
so I was playing around with placement.
And then finally decided on this design.





I had mixed feelings working with Phyllis'
fabrics. I was sad because she is no longer
with us but I was happy to be utilizing her
fabrics for a good cause.
I placed the purple square in the center
of this quilt because that was Phyllis' favorite
color.

I have gotten two more quilts professionally
quilted so far! Now to put the bindings on them.
I have two more additional quilts that are finished
and need backs to be made.

Here's one that Kim just finished quilting for me.
The binding is done and it's ready to go to
it's recipient - my son-in-law's niece.



You may recognize this quilt from previous posts.
The pattern is Wonky Stars.

A close up of the quilting pattern that Kim
did "double hearts" - love it!

I'm very happy with the speedy progress that
I am achieving! Determination and staying focused
are my goals. So far so good!

Starlings at the feeder - I have to keep chasing them away!
They chase other birds away and eat everything.



House Finch




Titmouse

Saw a Robin Redbreast which means spring is almost here!

Wordless Wednesday

Progress

I promised myself not to start any
new quilts this year until the tops that I
have are all quilted. (with the exception
of Dawn's BOM)

When I finish a quilt top it goes
in my closet on a hanger.
The ones that are completed are
either hand quilted or quilt-as-
you-go.

So I was very excited when one
of our Guild Members bought
a Longarm Quilting machine!
And she is doing a fabulous job!

This is the first quilt that I had
professional quilted (for me).

Quilted by Kim Loar

I blogged about this top HERE

Quilted - binding on - Finished! Yeah!

I love the way that it turned out!

Here's the back where you can see
more of the quilting.

Large flower with meandering

Kim also did one more the Wonky Star
Cats but I didn't get a chance to do the
binding yet. Maybe I'll have time this
week. I have 2 more for Kim to do
once I make the backings for them.
Catching up! Feels so good!

I also have, in my closet, 6 to 8
table runners but those I'll do
myself using some free motion
quilting.

*************************
On my previous post I had some
photos of my sketch book challenge -
Highly Prized.
One of them was my daughter but
I wasn't happy with the way it
turned out and so I did it over
again.


I like this one a little bit better but I
had too much shading. I'm afraid to
use the eraser fearing it might make
matters worse.

I also did a self-portrait from one of
my photos.


Drawing faces is one of my favorite
things to do. I'm just using a pencil
for now.

I tried something that I never did
before. On the Sketch book Challenge
blog Melanie Testa did a video on
using gouache. I really wanted to
try this and so I went to Michael's
and bought some (the very inexpensive
one) And I used one of my woodpecker
photos as my inspiration.



I could point out several things that
I did wrong but I won't (-:
I'm very happy with this one as it's
the first painting that I've ever tried.

That's what the Sketch book Challenge
is - trying new techniques and challenging
myself to go out of my comfort zone.
And Practicing! Every Day!

Have a Blessed Week! Can you believe
it's almost the end of January already?!!

Wordless Wednesday