December OMG & DrEAMi! Complete

 I got to deliver this Patriots Quilt to my buddy on Friday. He was so touched and excited about using this quilt during his cancer treatment. Right now, he has radiation daily and chemo once a week. He is cold all the time and with our winter weather this quilty hug is needed.

I explained how Nancy sent the Patriots fabric all the way from Boston and how Glenn rushed the beer bottle quilting. He was so touched that everyone pitched in to make him his chemo quilt. He told me we shouldn't have, but he was glad we did.  This project was my DrEAMi! for December 

https://www.mmmquilts.com/2018/12/dreami-23-cushions.html

and my December OMG

https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2018/12/one-monthly-goal-december-finish-link-up.html

 I am keeping up on the Good Fortune Quilt Along. This is part 6 making string blocks and cutting them down to size. You can find the information here:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-6.html

 I received this amazing book from Diane at http://www.butterflythreadsquilting.com
My blog will be part of her blog hop to celebrate her new book. Check back next Saturday, 1/5/19 to see what I am making and to have the chance to win your own copy of the book!

 I have lots of 2.5 inch strips, but not as many of other widths. Since I was going to need more strips, I decided to cut for some other quilts too and add in more 2.5 inch strips.

 These are to make the Improv Christmas Trees. I kept seeing some amazing versions this month and I want to make one for next Xmas. Here is the free tutorial:
https://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2015/12/modern-christmas-tree-quilt-block.html

 This is Diane's first book and I had picked up a newspaper print fabric to appliqué the flowers onto when it came out, but I need all the squares for the half square triangles...I want it really scrappy so I am going to keep cutting them until I have enough. It may take me all of 2019!

Moda is hosting a string along and I am having a blast playing with strings for a few projects! Stop by next Saturday to see my creations!

Christmas Goodies

 I am all caught up with the Good Fortune Clues. I got all the diamond rectangles in green and the bonus half square triangles done. I did not make strip sets for the orange rectangles because I already had a bunch of 2.5 inch strips of orange in my scrap box and why not just cut them up? You can find the link up and information here:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-5.html

For Christmas, my daughter surprised me with some Liberty of London goodies. This bundle is two meters worth and the precious little scissors in the Liberty fabric case.

 She also got this Liberty of London tea towel. She thought I could hang it in my sewing room, so I will be doing so rearranging.

 My mom and dad gave us an air fryer and I got this Smitten layer cake too.

My sister gave me this sweet kit which will also make a good addition to my sewing room and is in Bonnie and Camille fabrics. We woke up to three inches of snow today and it is snowing some more right now--sewing weather for sure!

Patriots Quilt Finished

Thanks to a little help from some amazing friends, the Patriots Quilt for my coworker/friend who is undergoing chemo is done. I apologize for the terrible indoor pictures, but I just pulled it from the dryer a few minutes ago and snapped some quick pictures. I used Cluck Cluck Sew's Touchdown pattern for the football portion:

https://cluckclucksewshop.com/products/touchdown-143-pdf-pattern

The letters are the six inch versions from Lori Holt's Spelling Bee book.

My quilter does not have a football design, but knowing my friend the beer bottles and loops go very well with the football and Patriots themes. I choose a gray thread and the quilting shows up, but does not overpower it.

The backing is genuine Patriots fabric sent from the Boston area by Nancy at http://pugmomquilts.blogspot.com

I got the Patriots fabric in the mail on Thursday afternoon and I pieced it together with the Brady jersey that night and dropped it off to Glenn on Friday morning and he squeezed in the quilting this afternoon.

I spent this evening machine binding it and washed it with Color Catchers. If my buddy is at work tomorrow I will give it to him otherwise, I will try to get some better pictures.

My daughter arrived safely from London and is enjoying her time with our dogs and sleeping in her queen size bed with her new quilt! I have to survive this week of work before our two week Christmas Break begins...

Jumping Jacks Finished

I am thrilled to share my big finish literally--this is my version of Jumping Jacks and it measures 72 x 83 inches. I have not washed it yet, but it is big and beautiful for sure! This is a design by Fig Tree & Company that you can purchase here:

https://store.figtreeandcompany.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=jumping+jacks

The pattern is not paper pieced, it is a little challenging with the rectangle piecing, but it is certainly worth the extra effort.

 I showed the professional quilting machine working on this last Sunday. The big pretty floral quilting goes perfectly with the floral Bonnie & Camille fabrics.

 I made three extra Jumping Jack blocks to use on my backing. I love to use stripes for the binding and I am coveting the two yards of the Bonnie & Camille Good Life red and white I used for this one!

Here is the embroidery I added to one of the backing blocks as the label. I plan on surprising my daughter with this when she returns home from London next weekend! I am considering making one of these for myself too...

I got the Patriots quilt top together yesterday. This is a gift for a coworker undergoing chemo. I really love the blend of the navy blues, reds, and light grays/silvers. I used Cluck Cluck Sew's Touchdown pattern you can find here:

https://cluckclucksewshop.com/products/touchdown-143-pdf-pattern

The letters are an addition I added from Lori Holt's Spelling Bee book. It will finish at about 60 x 83 inches.

My quilty friend Nancy at PugMom Quilts! http://pugmomquilts.blogspot.com saw my last blog post where I was explaining how there is not any Patriots fabric here in Colorado. She sent me an email offering to send me some from Boston. This is a picture she sent of the three yards of cotton she is putting in the mail to me. Quilters are the sweetest people, thank you so much Nancy! I am currently working on a Tom Brady jersey to incorporate on the backing--that mini quilt is also in the Lori Holt's Spelling Bee book, but mine will include a little more detail.

With all my focus going into the Patriots quilt, I may not get all my units together for the Good Fortune Mystery done by tomorrow. I did manage to get all the pieces cut this morning. I have lots of marking and sewing ahead! You can find all the details here:

https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html

Tonight, I plan on binding this table runner for my friend. She has been practicing with her new long arm machine. This will be my Slow Sunday Stitching to join with Kathy and friends:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/12/slow-sunday-stitching_9.html

Have a great week!

December OMG & DREAMi

Last week, I found out one of my favorite coworkers has cancer. He just had his first chemo treatment. He does not want a big deal made of it--we can't tell the kids he is ill and he is working as often as possible and looks forward to when he is well enough to be here at school.

Despite the fact that he does not want a big deal made of it, I am making him a quilt for chemo/hospital stays. He has been in the hospital for three days already! I often donate quilts to Happy Chemo for complete strangers, so I am not willing to let one of my best work friends go without a quilty hug from me! He is a huge New England Patriots fan, so I am making him a Patriot Football Quilt. It will be similar to the Bronco quilt made my hubby awhile back.

 I ordered some fabrics online from 1000s of Bolts and 1 Nut. Unfortunately, I did not do the best with the navy blues I selected--they are much more of a royal blue and I don't have many navy fabrics in my stash, so I ran down to one of my local fabric stores and found a couple that will work. Later in the week, I ran up to another town and bought some more navy blues. Every evening this week, I have been cutting the fabrics and I pieced about half of the footballs. The other half are already to sew together tonight.

I am using Lori Holt's Spelling Bee  book to make the letters to spell out Patriots. I am not going to add New England, but I am making a Tom Brady jersey for the backing. Being here in Colorado, there is not Patriots fabric, so I will use some reds, navy blues, and grays left over from the footballs.

This is my December One Monthly Goal (OMG) to get this done start to finish, so my friend can have it for chemo and recovery.

https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2018/12/one-monthly-goal-december-goal-link-up.html 

This is also a Drop Everything and Make it ( DREAMi). All my other projects will be on hold until this one is done. My quilter is awaiting my finish to get it done too!

Reveal--Fat Eighth Fruitcake

 I am so excited to finally be able to reveal this beautiful quilt designed by Fat Quarter Shop as a Shortcut Quilt. You can find the pattern on their blog here:
https://blog.fatquartershop.com/shortcut-quilt-fat-eighth-fruitcake/

I used mostly Bonnie and Camille Smitten fabrics. It measures 64x75 and is a very quick pattern. You could easily make 12 blocks and have a great size baby quilt.

My friend Glenn quilted it with an all over floral design called magnolia.

I chose this red and white gingham backing because I love gingham and it looks so vintage with the Bonnie and Camille fabrics! 

Late to the Party

Happy December! At the last minute last Sunday evening, my willpower gave out and I decided to join Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune Mystery Quilt. I have never made one of her mystery quilts before, but I have used many of her free patterns. You can find all the information here:

https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

I am always a little wary of mystery quilts, but I do love all of Bonnie's scrappy designs and thorough  directions. Three things pushed me to join in: 

1. it is only going to finish at 72x72 (this is small for Bonnie)

2. I have plenty of all the colors she is using in my stash and won't need to buy anything for the top

3. If I don't like it I will donate it to some worthy cause

I was able to complete all the many four patches and I ironed them the way Bonnie showed--a new method for me. I get all my blue half square triangles done too--I just need to trim them up this evening.

I met my friend and machine quilter extraordinaire, Glenn, yesterday. He quilted my Jumping Jacks Quilt. I want to surprise my daughter with this when she gets home from London in less than two weeks. We settled on a large floral design for it. I took a couple of pictures of it loaded on the machine. This is NOT a long arm machine. It is a professional quilting machine where quilts are clamped onto frame and the frame slides into the machine. It is all computerized and the frame moves vertically and the quilting head of the machine moves horizontally. The machine itself is enormous, but you also have to have 10+ feet of clearance to slide the frame and in and out! You also have to crawl under it to change bobbins and check your tension.

The quilt is about 72x85 inches. After putting it onto the frame which took about 30 minutes, it only took the machine about an hour and 30 minutes to quilt it--it has over 45,000 stitches in it! Two more of my quilts are awaiting quilting. I brought home a large queen sized quilt to bind for his mom and a small wall hanging too--a nice trade!

I purchased some Bonnie and Camille stripes for binding on Black Friday and they arrived this past Friday--just in time!

The quilting is big and loopy flowers and leaves. I will be cuddling under it and stitching down the binding after dinner tonight.

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/12/slow-sunday-stitching.html

We had about three inches of snow on Friday night and a little more today. Cold weather means comfort food at my house! I made white bean and chicken chili with cornbread last night and I am making meatloaf and potatoes tonight. My Fat Eighth Fruitcake Quilt gets posted tomorrow--it was also quilted on this machine with this design, but it is on a smaller scale. Come back tomorrow to check it out!