Number 77

 This beautiful scrappy quilt arrived from Lynn in Alamosa. You can visit her fun blog here

http://alamosaquilter.blogspot.com

 The quilting is gorgeous! There are lots of fun fabrics that will be fun to look at.

 The backing is a very soft flannel and she made a scrappy binding.

 Here is a picture of the pile of charity quilts. I gave my mom Lynn's quilt last night making number 77! We also celebrated my mom's birthday and I gave her a new sewing machine cover/mat and thread catcher, but I forgot to take pictures. They were my secret sewing this week and I only finished up a half our before our dinner reservation.

I have been pretty distracted from sewing this week because of Fergie. She is so much fun and a great addition to our family. This weekend I am working on my Dog Gone Cute project because it is going to be featured as part of the blog hop on Tuesday, 10/13 and I better get cracking!

Meet Fergie!

 We are over the moon at my house! Our new puppy, Fergie, arrived last night. She came from New Mexico and is 8 weeks old today. Her mom is a cattle dog and her dad is a miniature border collie. She is mostly jet black with a white chin, some white on her neck and chest, and little bits of white on the tips her paws and tail. Based on her mom's stature, we expect her to be knee high and around 30 pounds when fully grown.

 Of course, our daughter is in love with her!

 But more importantly, our other dogs love her too! Bella, our 5 year old vizsla mix, is thrilled to have  a new playmate and Lola, our 10 year old border collie mix, is relieved to sit back and watch them play. They got along so well last night, we left them all to sleep together in our dog room. It has definitely been a vey successful adoption.

I did sew this weekend, but it was mostly secret sewing. Now, I need to make a Dog Gone Cute Fergie block! Stay tuned...

Scrappy Quilts

 This gorgeous strip quilt arrived from Diann of http://littlepenguinquilts.blogspot.com

She sent it as a donation for my mom's charity quilt drive.

 She did a great job with the quilting and echoed the strip blocks, I love the green she used for the binding.

Here is the back. She used some cheerful fabrics to piece a perfect backing. It will be a lovely quilty hug for a nursing home patient.

Diann was so sweet, she even sent me this adorable pin cushion for Slow Sunday Stitching. Thank you so much Diann!

I made two bright Scrappy Summer quilts for the charity drive. You can find the free tutorial here http://cluckclucksew.com/2013/06/finished-scrappy-summer-and-pattern.html

My mom quilted it with clam shells and we found this lime green floral fabric for the backing and binding at Joann's for $2.40 a yard.

This is the other one I made. It has orange binding and a white with orange dots for the backing. How can such simple and easy quilts be some of my favorites of all time? For the rest of the weekend, I am going to be working on some more Dog Gone Cute puppies and some Farm Girl Vintage blocks.

Purplicious Finishes

  At the end of August, we received a gigantic queen sized quilt top and 36 extra blocks from Nancy aka http://pugmomquilts.blogspot.com. The quilts are the Texas Two Step pattern from Atkinson Designs. I split up the queen sized top and used the extra blocks and got three tops out of them. I apologize because my pictures are not great because we were trying to get them taken quickly before it started raining. I also did not get specific dimensions, but they are all bigger than 60 inches square.

My mom found a perfect dark purple and used it for the binding and backing of this one. This one is quilted with fluffy looking clouds.

 This one has a gorgeous teal binding and 

 a turquoise and teal backing.

 It is quilted with variegated thread in a clam shell design.

 The last of the three was a little smaller, so we added a green with aqua large polka dot border.

The same polka dot was used for the backing and binding. This one was quilted with clam shells as well. They will make lovely, snuggly lap quilts for the nursing home resident. Thank you so much Pug Mom for the generous donation!

 When I got home from my mom's this afternoon, there was another box waiting for me with tow quilt tops. They came from Johanna in Durham, North Carolina (no blog). She donated this bright and happy top

and this scrappy braid top. They are both gigantic--much bigger than my 5 foot 10 inch hubby could hold for me. I did not have time to hang them on the fence for pictures because my dad was already on his way over to my house to pick them up for quilting! Thank you so much Johanna for the donation!

I have had some inquiries about how we are doing with the charity quilt drive. My mom has 65 quilts completed, 2 more on the way, and several more tops including these 2 that arrived today to quilt. There are currently 72 nursing home residents, so we are getting very close to reaching the goal. We are planning on having several extras as the number of residents can fluctuate. Thank you all for your donations and encouragement!

Playing with Puppies

 Are you participating in the Dog Gone Cute Quilt Along? I am and will even be part of the blog hop on October 13th! Here is a link for more info 

http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/p/dog-gone-cute.html

I started playing with the puppies yesterday. This is the large block and the smaller block. I was trying to decide which size to make first and the smaller size was the winner.

 My first project is realistic looking dogs and I made these three blocks yesterday.

 Today, I made these two and 

 this one! I do want to make a whimsical version with some fun fabrics, so I think I might start working on some of those too, but first I need to get caught back up with the Farm Girl Vintage Sew Along.

The NFL season kicked off on Thursday night, so I am in game watching mode. My hubby hooked up the NFL Red Zone in my sewing room this season, so I can stitch away the day and not miss a point scored in any game. I prepped another block of my Cottage Garden quilt to work on while watching football and participating in Slow Sunday Stitching

http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

My mom has quilted up several of the charity tops that have been donated and that I made, so I hope to get over and pick them up for pictures tomorrow. Rain is coming our way which is perfect quilting weather, but not so great for getting pictures. Go Broncos and have a great week!

Squares in Squares in Squares

Meet Squares in Squares in Squares! This is another quilt for my mom's charity quilt drive. I cut up a layer cake into 5 inch squares and assembled them into 3 x 3 blocks. My mom finished piecing it for me and quilted it. 

The yellow was her addition and I love it.

It is very big! The nursing home's social worker has started to help out with pairing up particular quilts with specific patients and she has someone in mind for this one. There have been some generous local quilters who have donated 13 completed quilts, so we are getting closer to the goal. There has been an increase in the number of patients from 62 to 72, so we need all the help we can get!

I finished another Scrappy Summer top similar to this one yesterday, but did not get a picture due to rain. I already dropped it by for quilting. I am making two more Scrappy Summer tops, but they are not bright. They are more country and muted and equally as scrappy.

I am going to spend some quality time this evening with some Slow Sunday Stitching and a new book. See what everyone else is up to here 

http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com