Spring Forward

 I have been dreading the time change because I hate losing a whole hour, but it staying late longer is nice. I finally washed my Rainbow Curved Log Cabin Baby Quilt.

 It got nice and crinkly and it did not seem to matter that the backing is minky. This will go into my baby quilt stash ready to be gifted.

 Because I liked the baby quilt so much, I already started to make more blocks for another quilt and for my RSC17 challenge. I am thinking a lap-sized version this time.

 The color for RSC17 March is red. Here are all my red blocks so far...

 This quilt is my OMG challenge for March and it was an RSC15 project. I pinned it this morning and I am nearly done with my machine quilting. I just need to dig into my stash for a good binding.

Here is the quilting on the minky backing.

My embroidering for retirement quilts continues and I will soon be putting everyone's blocks together for one of the retirement quilts. Here is a link to more handwork:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2017/03/spring-forward.html

March OMG Goal

Happy March! I have been hesitant to set any quilting goals after my epic failure on my quilting goals for 2016, but I need to get some of my UFOs done. I am joining Elm Street Quilts for the One Monthly Goal (OMG) link up for March. I want to finish this top--machine quilting and binding. Here is the link:

http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2017/03/one-monthly-goal-march-goal-link-up.html

I just got back from buying a grey minky for a backing fabric, so hopefully I will successfully meet this goal.

While I was in Denver, my Connecting Threads order arrived with some of these fabrics. I also picked up a couple of the oranges while in Denver. I am collecting oranges for two upcoming projects.

My order included all of these threads. I usually wait for one of Connecting Thread's annual sales, but I was completely out of white and the $2.74 full price is still a great deal.

I had a good time in Denver--I got a little shopping in, got my hair cut and colored, ate Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish, spent time in the hot tub, ate amazing sushi, and went dancing. This picture is from the sushi bar. My friend and college roommate, Lauren, is in the leopard print. I am in the coral and Melissa and Michelle are the sisters in white.  It was very fun night!

Have a great week!

Slow Sunday

 Despite it being a slow Sunday, I managed a finish! This is a Cheri Payne design called Saltbox Houses. I had made some of the companion quilts that go with the design, so when she posted the pattern on her Facebook group I decided to make this one too.  It is a complete freebie as everything came from my stash.

 Unfortunately, I need to put my snowmen quilts away and get my spring projects hung, but it will be up next winter for sure. I hand quilted it and got the binding done today for Slow Sunday Stitching

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2017/02/slow-sunday-stitching-friends.html

I made four more teal RSC17 blocks yesterday. These blocks are 9 inches finished and make a gorgeous rainbow design.

Speaking of rainbow designs, I finished my curved log cabin this week. It has been very windy, so I have not been able to get any good pictures yet. Here is an up close of the teal/aqua block. I think I will make some more blocks for the RSC17 and make a quilt for myself with them...

I will be spending the evening embroidering a couple of these blocks. They will be part of a couple of retirement quilts for some teachers that are retiring at the end of this school year.

I leave for Denver on Wednesday morning for a work meeting. I hope to check out a quilt shop near the hotel we are staying at and get to Home Goods. If weather permits, I am going to spend the rest of the weekend with my college roommate. Have a great week!

Curved Log Cabin Baby Quilt

Last month, Sandra over at mmm! quilts started a new linky party called Drop Everything and Make It! DREAMit! It is a linky party for those of us who are known to stop all work on everything else and make something that inspires us. There is a button on my right side bar for this linky party. This project was definitely a DREAMit! project for me. I saw a picture on Instagram on Thursday morning and went home that night and started cutting it. I was off on Friday, so I got about half of my blocks made. On Saturday, I finished the rest of the blocks. On Sunday, I added all the sashings and sewed all the blocks together.

 On Monday morning, I was at Jo-Ann's buying the backing and the binding--they were the only things I bought! Monday afternoon, I pinned it and quilted it using the large wavy stitch on my Pfaff horizontally using the colored parts of the blocks as the guide. It is stitched at 1.5 inches apart.

Here is a view of the back. I decided a gray minky would be a restful contrast to the bright front. My inspiration picture, you can see here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQkRJ7Mlebu/?taken-by=modernmakersretreat

showed a black and white striped binding. Jo-Ann's had their high quality cottons all 50% off for the weekend and they had a black and white chevron pattern that gave the same look. I sewed the binding down by hand on Monday and Tuesday night. A beautiful finish in less than a week!!!

I got home from work this afternoon and battled the wind to get these pictures. I have not washed it yet, but I did not prewash the top and batting this time; so I am curious to see how the minky backing and cotton top/batting handle the shrinkage...

 I got some awesome happy mail yesterday from Lorna over at Sew Fresh Quilts. I won this beautiful book by Edyta Sitar. It is a definite WOW! I am thinking of making some of the flowers for a spring time door banner--maybe this weekend.

 Lorna also included these adorable fox mini quilts. They are so PRECIOUS!

 The backs are nearly as cute as the fronts. Plus, she included the ruler hangers. I don't often have a mid-week finish and happy mail, so they have made my week!

February FNSI

Hello! I had a short week with Friday off of work, so of course I planned on sewing all day and evening. I even got out of cooking dinner by going to a local meat market that has $5 sandwiches on Friday and getting some other goodies for the rest of the weekend.  I signed up for Friday Night Sew In (FNSI):

http://www.sugarlane-designs.com/2017/02/february-fnsi-love-is-in-air.html

My day began with the second clue posted for the Scrap Dance Two Step. Here is the link:

https://frommycarolinahome.wordpress.com/2017/02/17/scrap-dance-two-step-february/

I made all of the hourglass blocks as directed. So far, I am keeping up with Carole's mystery!

Next up, I had spotted this beauty on Instagram the other day and knew I needed to make one. Can you say squirrel? I have no girl baby quilts in my stash, so between my overflowing scrap bins and that I already had the block pattern in an old magazine--I had to begin! By the way, the block pattern is in Quilt Sampler Spring/Summer 2014.

 I dug in and started making a teal/aqua version for my FNSI and the RSC17.

I also cut everything for a purple block last night and sewed it together this morning. For the backgrounds, I am using whites and low volumes from that scrap bin too. I just finished cutting out a red block. The blocks are 15 inches big, so all it will take is nine blocks for a good sized baby quilt. I am thinking some straight line quilting and a minky backing will be perfect once I get the blocks done. This could end up being a weekend finish with Monday off too!

Happy Valentine's Day 2017

Happy Valentine's Day 2017! I wanted to post this yesterday, but I had to wait until my daughter received her package today. I made this mini heart quilt for her to put up in her dorm room, but with the blizzards back east--she did not get the package until today instead of Friday...

 Here is the backing. I love all the Bonnie and Camille fabrics.

I decorated the inside of the box this time. She has turned into a gym rat, so I wanted to acknowledge her hard work. She also needed more gym socks and body wash to support her gym addiction. I personalized a bunch of hearts with messages and of course there are a few chocolate goodies in there plus gloves, hand warmers, a trashy magazine, gum, mints, etc. 

I did not do much last week, but I made up for it this last weekend. I finished up the quilting on my purple Chains of Love Baby Quilt. I stuck with straight line quilting as recommended for quilting with a minky backing. It is 47 inches square and was a free pattern from Amanda at Jedi Craft Girl and Amber at Gigi's Thimble 

http://www.jedicraftgirl.com/2017/02/chains-of-love-5-fat-quarter-fun-quilt.html

 The machine quilting is simple, but effective. The minky backing is AMAZING!!! It was so soft, warm, and luxurious to sit under while I hand sewed the binding down. I am going to dig through my heaps of tops awaiting quilting and find one to quilt with a minky backing for myself. I am sold on minky for backings especially for baby quilts!

For the first time this month, I worked on some Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. February's color is teal which I love! I made my log cabin medallion blocks--five of them. I am also nearly done with hand quilting the  border of my Salt Box House Quilt. I have a four day weekend coming up, so I hope my progress continues!

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Chains of Love Quilts

 Happy February! Is anyone else happy that January is over? It just seemed long and dreary this year. On Wednesday, Amanda of Jedi Craft Girl and Amber of Gigi's Thimble posted their new Five Fat Quarter Fun Quilt--Chains of Love Quilt. Here is the link to their free pattern:

http://www.jedicraftgirl.com/2017/02/chains-of-love-5-fat-quarter-fun-quilt.html

I saw it and fell in love--plus I do not have that many Valentine's quilts...

 mmm!quilts recently started a new link up called Drop Everything And Make it DREAMi and these projects certainly qualify as that. The link to this party is in my sidebar. I shopped in my stash and found plenty of pinks and reds to use and even a great backing, but I needed a background. This pink with white hearts and swirls by Sandy Gervais will be my backing with a red strip added into make it wide enough.

 On my way home from work on Thursday, I stopped and got a background. This white with silver metallic swirls and hearts is perfect. Friday night, I cut and sewed all nine blocks. I went more scrappy for both the Chains of Love Quilts than the pattern shows.

Then, I saw on Facebook that my former department secretary/friend had just become a grandma for the first time and sadly, I did not have any girl baby quilts all done. She loves purple, so I dug through my sparse purple bin of fabrics and pulled some lavenders and purples out. I ran up to the fabric store for a background and a couple of more purple fat quarters. I cut and sewed this whole top yesterday and last night.

This is the background I used and I bought a lavender minky for the backing. I have never used minky as a backing, but I have wanted to try it and this seems like the perfect opportunity. I am washing the top and batting right now, but then I will pin it all together using lots and lots of pins and quilt it probably using a straight stitch diagonally.

I did most of my Super Bowl cooking this morning (we are having Chinese chicken wontons with honey mustard dipping sauce and Asian coleslaw), so I can hopefully just enjoy the game and the commercials while I bind my purple Chains of Love Baby Quilt. We are rooting for the Atlanta Falcons at my house! Check out what other slow stitchers are up to here:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2017/02/slow-sunday-stitching.html