Fraternal Twins

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At last the two strippy quilts are finished, 64" x 41.5". The two hedgehog prints had been bundled with an odd orange strip that matched one of the colors for several years. It seemed like there was always "one more thing" to do. Pin, sew, press strip pairs, repeat. Choose a backing, a quilting pattern, thread colors. Find binding fabric, cut, sew, press repeat. It was a good way to use yardage with very little waste. The labels ended up being a project in themselves.




The charity organization had specific instructions for wording on the labels. In the past I've used a pigma pen with mixed results. They usually end up bleeding and looking blurry. I decided to use one of the alphabets on my Janome machine, and started testing. Working without a hoop really requires an iron-on interfacing to prevent puckers and shifting. Chalk helped keep the four lines of text lined up. I used the same grey fabric as the backing and a bright orange poly thread for contrast. Two or so hours later, the labels were stitched, hemmed, and sewn to the quilts.

2020 First Finish

Yay - Kira #2 with Birds is not only finished but also in its new home with a neighbor. I love the pale yellow batik print with birds, and it took a long time to find the right project. My neighbor has a pet parakeet and it seemed a good fit for her little girl.

Kira #2, 75.5” x 60.5”

Two lap strippy quilts are loaded on the machine for quilting. They're sewn together as one quilt with spacers as they weren't quite the same size. They are WOF strips and I left the selvedges on to make it easier to piece them together.

At the sewing machine is a simple twin quilt made of 2 charm packs and some green FQs that I won in a checkerboard layout. 

I've been crocheting washcloths with a cotton/linen blend from stash, and with some rough fibers in the yarn this is a better fit than a hat or cowl. I found some compatible cotton blend yarns for a colorwork sweater to go with yarn in stash that has been long discontinued, and need to swach both stockinette and the colorwork pattern in the round.

2020 Goals

Though I may shift back and forth between projects, if there is a clear deadline the finish is a more direct line. Currently none of my projects in progress have deadlines, so making a list will help me finish them off (I love crossing things off the list!)

My UFO list is a Word document with "in-progress" at the top, and finished at the bottom. For 2019, there were 41 finishes total- mostly quilts, and quite a few house items, ranging from table runners to quilted pillows. I've tried to document the quilts here as well as on my Pinterest board - Finished Quilts.


2020 Goals


Quilt the tops already finished 

• Kira "Birds" on the longarm
• Twin Boxes
• Twin Stacked
• Scrap Cats.

Assemble & quilt 99 Wonky courthouse steps blocks

Piece and complete quilts cut out

• 2 charity strippie lap quilts (hedgehog fabrics)
• Plaid-ish Twin
• Bricks #1 Blue/aqua/green Twin – 3” x 5.5” bricks
• Bricks #2, blue/aqua/green Twin– 2.5” x 4.5” bricks
• Charms & Green Twin - all 5" squares
• Brown & green “gingham” twin quilt, cut 6” squares
• Red/gold offset blocks twin 

Finish UFOs 

• red dahlia
• feather placemats
• quail applique block from Corinne (embroider red berries, quilt)
• chicken blocks

Basket for closet storage

I also keep a Quilting Queue board on Pinterest, and having images of the patterns helps me keep them straight.

Last 2019 Finishes

NICU quilts, 36" x 24"

Two preemie quilts, envelope edge turned then quilted with diagonal lines through all squares..

Kira 60.5" x 60.5"

Kira Christmas Quilt 60.5" x 60.5", will probably wait until next year to be gifted. Quilted with Spilled Ink.

One of a set of four placemats finished on Christmas Day. Pieced and quilted as-you-go with 2 layers of batting.

Friendship Star Runner, 52" x 26"

Friendship Star Table Runner 52” x 26”, quilted with Meandering Hearts.

As for 2020 projects, the first quilt of the year is on the longarm and the first rows quilted. Two lap-sized strippie quilts are in progress. There are a few UFO's to be reviewed, and three charity tops with backs hanging in the closet. Six twin sized quilts are cut out and ready to sew. 

The new patterns to try are stacking up - Just Kidding Around (goats in pajamas!), Koala Love, and the long wished-for Flowering Snowball templates. I'd love to do a rainbow quilt of just strip-pieced blocks.

Quilt Roundup

Some finishes, some starts, some WIPs.

99 Wonky Courthouse blocks

Blocks are stacked in a box by rows, ready to assemble. Will be 83" x 68".

DNA Quilt, 87" x 70"

 DNA quilt donated at the November QOR meeting.

Hotpad 12" x 10.75"

Hotpad sewn quilt as you go, a test for an upcoming set of placemats. Not quite this bright! Even after marking the batting it twisted a bit, will make the backings for the placemats extra large. Strips cut 1 1/2" wide.

Lime Quilt, 86" x 74"

Lime quilt, finished and ready to donate. Quilted with "Becker's Fern". The backing is a bright lime green.

Table runner ready to quilt

Friendship Star table runner, fabric from a long-ago project that didn't quite work. The border fabric does go all the way around but is rolled up on the quilting frame in the picture. I like how the white fabric is bright enough to show the pattern yet softer than a solid white. There are some un-used coordinates (also on black) that are now free to become another project with the leftovers.

WIP Wednesday

Quilting and piecing, and piecing yet another quilt!

Brown “DNA” charity quilt

Brown “DNA” charity quilt on the longarm, quilting in progress. The backing is an interesting collection of fabrics purchased at my guild’s auction. Some of the fabrics in the top also came from the bundle.

I had so much fun making the baby-sized Wonky Courthouse Steps that a larger version was inevitable.  I’m batching them in sets of 9. Since removing the motorized  quilt advance off the frame, we were able to move the machine about 7” further from the design wall, which allows me to pin up blocks and leave them in place without constantly knocking them off the wall.

Wonky Courthouse Steps round 2 --  99 blocks in progress for a twin

Kira Lap quilt pieces, Christmas colors

Also piecing a Kira lap quilt, cut out a couple of weeks ago. As I’m starting to see lots of Christmas ideas online, this project jumped to the machine. Starting from a FQ collection, I added a couple of white and pale gold fabrics for strong contrast. Again used my size-adjusted blocks to make best use of FQ’s. The first Kira twin quilt with cute batik birds is still waiting to be quilted.  

Squirrel Quilt

I love scrappy quilts, and when Bonnie Hunter started posting her scrappy Courthouse Steps, it looked like an inevitable project for me. The never-empty box of blue/green scraps had been sitting on my sewing table, so I decided to make a small version from the box. I cut 36 center squares, half of a dark aqua and half from a green/yellow lemons batik. The blocks were trimmed at 8" square, so the finished quilt came out at just over 45" square. That meant the backing was scrappy too, since it was wider than quilting fabric. Quilting is slightly wonky, freehand grids 3/4" - 1" apart.

Wonky Courthouse, 45.5" square, grid quilting

The other finished charity quilt is the Big Plus, made with three 1-yd cuts of fabric. I drew it up in EQ and calculated three cut sizes, rather than just cutting squares. Cutting 5" strips, then sub-cutting 5" squares, 9.5" strips and 14" strips. I'll probably make this again, perhaps sized as a twin.

Big Plus, 63.5" x 53", quilted with Bumpity