May 2022, Double Wedding Ring repair/ Double 9 Patch, crib size

My friend at quilt guild had this double wedding ring quilt she said needed some repair.  I said I'd look at it, expecting it to be shredded.  Amazingly, the fabric was in pretty good shape.  Some of the seams had popped open and the batting was peeking out.  I blind stitched all that I could find closed.  The main problem was that the quilt had been tied and the ties were rubbed off, or worn away.  I spent most of my sewing time for 3 weeks retying the quilt.  I added ties to the white centers that had not been tied and the batting was bunching and shifting.  It is a huge quilt.

This quilt I made from my boxes of 1 1/2" squares.  I  used mainly blue/white and some yellow, for a boys quilt.  It will go to the charity "Project Linus" which gives quilts to sick children.  The backing was made specifically for Project Linus.  If you look closely, you will see Snoopy in uniform.  Cute!

 

March 2022, full size quilt "Double 9 patch"

 This quilt was made from the huge bag of fabrics that Tommy gave me a few weeks ago.  The last quilt I posted was made from the same bag.  Tommye had made several blocks for the "courthouse steps" quilt, and also several blocks for this one, "Double 9 patch".  Each piece measures 1 inch finished.  I usually don't do quilts with pieces this small but Tommye started it, I had to finish it.  Also, when I cut  up my scraps, I always end up with stacks of 1 1/2" squares, which means I have quite a few ready to use.  This quilt is big, used a lot of thread and time.  It is fun to sew up a quilt that requires no real thinking or planning.  I quilted it with simple straight lines, horizontal and vertical  - no fancy swirls and circles in this one.

January 2022, Baby size. Two 4 0 X 60 size, Courthouse step

This pattern is called "Courthouse Steps"  The difference from the usual pattern is that there is a small 9patch square for the middle.  The material was given to me from a guild member ( Tommye) as a large bag of 1 1/2 " strips and a big stack of the 9 patch squares.  So even though the material was cut, it took a long time to sew together.  There is more material in the bag, mostly the 9 patch.  I will put that quilt together sometime soon.,

This is the baby size quilt I made with pieces to match the larger quilt on the last post.  Very bright, very pretty fabrics.

I've made several quilts with this pattern, it's called "Double Triangles.  I like this pattern, the way it turns out, but it is time consuming.  The top one is more for a girl, the bottom is more for a boy.  The next picture is of the backing for the boy's quilt, made from left over pieces and blocks from the front.  These two quilts will go to Linus Project, but I think I'll wait till after our Moab guild quilt show.

 

  

 

December 2021, cribsize quilt for a girl.

I found  this pattern in my file folders, saved for a special project.  I made this by request for the grandchild for one of Vere's friend.  Actually, my neighbor, Barbara had loved one of my earlier quilts and I gave it to her to give to this family, it was bright greens and they loved it for their baby boy.  Now they have a baby girl we agreed they needed a wildly colorful quilt for her.  Close up of some of my favorite fabrics that I pulled out.  As I was cutting, I cut some strips of the same fabric for another smaller quilt, ready to go when I get to it.    

 

December 2021, Cutting down the tree

 This tree in the front of our house was nice looking, about as tall as the house when we moved here 20 years ago.  It's been getting uglier and uglier, dead in the middle with some green branches in the front.  I've been nagging Vere to cut it down, even offering to call someone to cut it down.  He wanted to do the cutting, and he started on it.  I knew it would take some time, a few branches and then a rest.  Vere loads the cut branches into the pickup and drives it out  to drop them off in the vast dessert around Moab.  

2021, Christmas cookies

 I make Christmas cookies and candy every  year to send to the children.  These are the sugar cookies which is a standard, and their favorite.  I thought this year I'd keep from breathing on them by wearing the ever present masks.  Vere surprised me by snapping this picture.  If I'd known that was going to happen, I'd at least have combed my hair.  Also, I'd have worn something other than my ugly house dress.

October 2021, full size, fifty states with state flowers embroidered

Finally finished this quilt.  It  was a lot of work and time.  An earlier post describes the origin of this quilt and showed the stack of blocks ready to be joined.  I didn't have Laura's plan for arranging these blocks, she might have planned  to put them on "point" with a turquoise block between.  I decided to make them straight, alphabetically, seven across and seven up/down.  But  that left "Wyoming" all alone on the bottom row.  Had to pull a couple blocks apart and rearrange them like this.  It worked out well.  One picture  here shows the back with a thin strip of the turquoise sashing that join the blocks.  Vere has said several times he really likes  this quilt and Sonya's eyes lit  up when she saw it.  So eventually it will go to Sonya.  I spent many wonderful, restful hours sitting out on my deck, doing hand embroidery. In the summer I was out there early in the morning in the shade.  As it got cooler I sat out there in 55 degree weather in the sun, watching the blue sky and green around me.  Did I say this quilt took a lot of time.