15 and 15.........

I trimmed the last three blocks and put them on the design wall with the rest to total 15.  I have more ideas of combinations for the next blocks now.

The other 15 blocks I made are for a QOV block drive sponsored by Kevin the Quilter.  Follow that link to read the details.  They need to be submitted in groups of 5 so I made 3 groups to use up the fabric.  They will be mixed in with other donated blocks so there won't be so many repeats of fabric next to each other.  There is an update post also here. 

In weather news: a big snowstorm headed here Tues. night into Wed. morning.  Just what we needed!  Today however is supposed to be in the 50s so a lot of the snow we already have will be melting.

Binding.....

Last night 2 of the TV shows I regularly watch had new episodes so I sewed binding on 6 of the mug rugs while watching them.  I was making the 3rd one down for a friend and got it into an addressed envelope and sealed it before I remembered I hadn't taken a photo of it.  Maybe she will take a photo and email it to me when she gets it.

QOV top...........

I was sewing in the basement last night because I was doing a load of laundry. I only had 3 blocks left to sew together for this QOV top so I did them a couple nights ago and last night got the top sewn together and pressed. It still needs a border to be big enough for their minimum size requirement. It is a Mary Johnson pattern but we made the blocks 12" instead of 9" because we cut it with the Accuquilt studio dies. That meant we would have less blocks in the quilt. One of the other ladies did the cutting and another one sewed the Churn Dash blocks. I sewed the star blocks and assembled the top.

Since I had the iron on, I finally pressed the 3 blocks I made earlier this week.

From one kind of cutting to the next.......

I finished the I Spy kits and now I'm on to the next cutting project for the Quilts of Valor projects.  One of the groups is using 2.5" squares so the last time I went to choose fabrics for kits I brought home a bunch to cut with my die cutter.  I like to cut the pieces to an easy to handle size for the die and then stack 10 pieces and cut.

Here are the rest of the fabrics to cut.  Most of the pieces I brought home (from donated fabric) are quarter and half yards.  I have to press them first so I did that while I watched some of the new season shows on TV.

Some of the trees are starting to change color.  I took this photo with my zoom lens from my kitchen window so it isn't real clear.  That may be because the window needs washing, but we won't go there.

 

 

QOV quilt finish......

For this QOV quilt I took all of the leftover 2.5" and 3.5" strips of varying lengths of red/white/blue and pieced strips that I cut to 68" length.  Then I alternated the 2 sizes in several different ways to piece a quilt the required minimum size for a QOV. I call this style random plank as it reminds me of hardwood floor planks.  I put the binding and label on yesterday.  I also sewed the binding on Sparkling Stars and printed labels for 5 quilts.  I am going to a group meeting today and will take the hand sewing along.

2 bindings......

The first binding I finished was on Crooked Cobblestones 1, which I should have finished in January.  I'm glad I decided on binding instead of facing.  This is 2 down and 12 yet to finish before the first of June.  I also printed 4 more labels, 2 of them for quilts that are done and just needed the label.

This close up shows the binding better, the same fabric that is on the back of the quilt.  I like the way the color changes so it isn't real noticeable that there is a binding.

The second binding is on the QOV #3 so I could get it washed and ready to take to the sew in today.

One more quilted.....

I quilted the third QOV quilt made from the kits that I cut.  Our sew-in is on Tuesday so I want to be able to deliver the quilts.  I trimmed the edges but haven't cut the binding yet.

I need to make 30 more of the black and white wedges before I can continue on that project.  I am using up all of the left over strip piecing from a Strips n Curves quilt made several years ago and adding 2 chunks onto it.  I'm still looking for my bag of black and white scraps.  I hate to cut off yardage when I know there are a bunch of scraps somewhere in my house.

A binding day...

I wanted to get the binding done on the 2 QOV quilts so I could wash them yesterday.  I cut the 9 kits using my own blue stash, about half have my red stash in them, and I provided borders, backings, batting and quilting.  The tops were pieced by other ladies in our Batavia, IL group.

I did the bindings all by machine.  I forgot sew the label into the binding on the second one so I had to hand sew it on all 4 sides.

This is the backing fabric on the first crooked cobblestone piece.  I trimmed away the excess and decided that 2 of the pieces were large enough to use for facings.

I had planned to do a facing but thought I should check to see if it would work as a binding and I think it looks OK.  It needed to be a piece that is quite multicolor so it didn't create an obvious edge.  Luckily I have enough of that fabric left to make the hanging sleeve and the rest of the binding.

I decided on the same print as the border but in a different colorway, with a dark gray background, as binding on this one.  I got 2 sides hand sewn last night.

Two down, many to go..........

I got two of the QOV quilts quilted, one with meandering and stars, and one with loop-de-loop.  I will bind both of them with the blue stripe that is on the back of both and on the border of one of them.

After all of that quilting I needed to reward myself with some playtime.  I got out the box with the leftover crooked cobblestones and put them on the design wall to see how many I need to make to fill in.  I want to make some smaller pieces like the larger ones that will be in my show.

Batting and borders.....

Some of the tops have been turned in from the QOV kits I cut in Oct.  I said I would cut the borders and sew them on.  Both of these will have the blue stripe on the back because it is 60" wide so it doesn't need to be pieced.  One has the blue stripe as the border and the other has the stars and stripes.

This one has the stars and stripes for the border and the backing.  I still have enough of the print to border a couple more.  I also cut batting for 4 of the 14 quilts that I need to finish for my show in June.  It looks like it is time to finish something now.

Yesterday......

Yesterday was our monthly QOV sew in and 4 pairs of us were working on this pattern.  There will be 20 blocks in a quilt so we are half way there on this one.

Another pair of ladies was working on this set of colors.  I forgot my camera so I didn't get photos of the other 2.  They took theirs home to work on and will bring them back next month and finish them.  Go here to our chapter blog and see what other quilts were worked on.

Last Thursday when my 2 friends came over for help with their project, I cut 9 sets of blue squares for kits.  I ran out of light and red so I brought home some pieces to finish these 5 kits for next time.

Since we meet at a quilt shop I had to buy a couple new fabrics to put in the diamond quilt (and also filled my punch card so I'll have free fabric next month!).  They are Philip Jacobs prints.

Here is the group I will cut diamonds out of today.

3 more blocks....

I did more playing than sewing yesterday.  I made 3 more blocks for the QOV quilt that will be the sample for everyone to see.  I only have enough of this red and this blue for 8 blocks and there will be 20 blocks in the quilt.  That means that there will be several different blues for the pinwheels and that the red ones which are formed by the intersections of the blocks will be scrappy.  If you missed this when I first showed it and the book, go back to this post.

Signature quilts....

One of the ladies at the QOV sew-in yesterday was assembling some signature blocks into a quilt top.  More info about that can be found at our group's blog.

 Here is a finished top that they display at the Farmer's Markets and other locations.  If you are in the Aurora, IL area you may want to check out the locations mentioned on the blog.

Last night I started sewing the larger of the 2 Target log cabin quilt tops.  I took out the one dark block and stole a light block from the smaller quilt.  I will make one more bright block for that quilt.  I am sewing this together in the method that I have shown previously in a tutorial.

QOV sew in day in Batavia, IL

I spent part of the day yesterday trying out a new block and packing all of the things to take to our QOV sew in.

I found the block and technique in this book.  The blocks get trimmed to size after sewing which works  well when you have a lot of different people making the blocks.

I haven't trimmed the sections for the second block but I wanted to show that you get both red and blue pinwheels when the blocks go together.  I think this is similar to the little twister blocks that you cut out of a large piece of patchwork with a template.  The edge of these blocks are on the straight of grain.

In between other things.......

When I'm between other projects I sew a few blocks for the QOV quilts.  Another lady made all of the Churn Dash blocks and I am making the star blocks.  Our inspiration was this quilt that Mary offered.  I changed the center to a plain square instead of another 4 patch.  There will be 20 blocks in each quilt.  There are 30 Churn Dash blocks so we should have 3 quilts when we are finished.

Quilt delivery and backyard scenes........

Two representatives from the Great Lakes Training Base came to Batavia to pick up some of the QOV quilts.  Each one of the quilts is put in a pillowcase for delivery.  This is a double row of quilts, 50 altogether.

"Chippy" the chipmunk is back again.  He is digging through all of the seed residue under a bird feeder.

Soon after he left a bunny hopped over to see if there was anything left.  In the background is the lid off one of my feeders.  One of the squirrels knows how to get the lids of all 3 feeders, and then she goes in from the top to eat the seed.

The forsythia in the back yard, west side of the house, is blooming.  That is dead grass in the background, no new green grass yet.

The suet feeder was getting some action yesterday afternoon.  I had to get cast iron suet cages and run a chain through them several times or the squirrels will open them too.

QOV sew in day in Batavia, IL

I spent the day yesterday getting some of the quilt tops ready for quilters to pick up today at our QOV sew in.  As I have mentioned before we work with fabric donated by a lot of people, lots of small yardage pieces so most of our quilts are scrap quilts.  I pieced a back for this one too, the same fabric as the border which I purchased on sale a few months ago.

Our weather went from the high 70s on Sunday to the 40s yesterday.  It must be spring!

A snow day..........

Yesterday I was supposed to go to the QOV sew-in 25 miles north east of me, but after shoveling my sidewalk in the biting wind I decided my safety was more important.  I knew that it would be snowing at my house before it would up there and with the wind gusts so strong, I would be driving home in a whiteout.  The snow started at 1 p.m.  I decided to work on some blocks for a QOV quilt first.  There were a lot of leftover squares made of 2 rectangles so I just added 5 plain squares for dark and light blocks.  I have 17 of the 20 needed finished.

Then I finished the ditch quilting on this quilt. (For full view, click on Kaleidoscope in my Label list on the right sidebar).

This was the view out of my studio window.  They would rest here awhile, then go to the feeders, then come back.

Only one squirrel braved the weather to clean up under the feeder.

While I had the green fabrics out last week I chose 2 more groups to cut for Trip Around the World.  My orange stack chair is so dated!  I have yellow and brown ones too!

This is the scene out my front door at 11:30 last night.  I think we had about 8-10" of snow at that point.  The wind was really howling.  I missed the lightening and thunder and a couple towns even had hail with the thunder snow.

It's groundhog day, but they cancelled it here because they know what he will see tomorrow without taking him out in the elements.

Rail Fence

Here is one top that was finished at the QOV sew in yesterday.  We have a large variety of fabric donated to our cause and I think this one turned out very well as a scrappy version.  I will quilt this one as my January donation.  I am trying to quilt one a month for them.

Last QOV sew in day of the year

This is one of the blocks we will be making today at our sew in.  I like to sew triangles together, so I have been doing them in between other projects.  It is going to be cold again today, like yesterday not even reaching 20 degrees.  My van sits in a heated garage most of the time.  I hope it doesn't mind sitting outside all day tomorrow.