Quiltingartist

Sunday, February 26, 2017

1857 Album Quilt Update

I've been having a lot of fun working on these blocks from the 1857 Album Quilt by Sentimental Stitches.

Perfect for some stitching and a cup of tea.

Here are the first six I have appliqued. They are 10" blocks and I am doing needleturn applique - my favorite method!

from the Sentimental Stitches web site.

I really like working in one color and I think these blocks look great in blue and white. The original quilt, which you can see here, is red, green and cheddar.

Here is my fabric pull from my stash for these blocks. As I said in my last post, I won't be making all 64 blocks. Maybe around 36 should be enough!

Also some inspiration from the plate collection on my living room wall.

Here are some closer looks at the blocks. I am not stitching them in any particular order.

However, I focused on the blocks with hearts for the month of February.

Some stitching by the fire. Although we have been in the 70's the past couple of days. Unheard of for February in New Jersey! But I am not complaining!!

I will be working on finishing up this block today. Looks perfect for Spring!

I have a nice cozy place to stitch in my living room, which is perfect. I hope you get to do some slow stitching today.

Until next time...

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Sunday, January 29, 2017

I know a lot of you have had the winter blues this year with lots of snow. My heart goes out to you living in the northwest who seem to not be getting a break from the snow. Fortunately (don't say it!) we have been very lucky here in the northeast with very little snow thus far.

But what I mean by Winter Blues here are some of the projects I have been working on the past month. I seem to be working with a lot of blue.. must be the season. I hope to get the binding on this tabletopper I made for my coffee table. This is from a pattern by Primitive Gatherings.

It will go well with my snowman pillows which I made two years ago. These are my own design.

I used my favorite method for HST (half square triangles) - the Star Singles hst paper by Spinning Star. I can make 8 HSTs with each paper and they come out very accurate. Easy peasey!

Unfortunately this 28" x 28" table topper did not go together as 'easy peasy' as it should have. Can you see the problem here? Well, I didn't see it until I had it all pieced together... obviously not paying attention! My husband said that it still looked like a snowflake (he's so sweet), but I knew if I didn't fix it, it would always bother me. I know you understand. :-)

That error resulted in some of this....

Once I got it sewn together correctly, I free motion quilted swirls in the blue patch area and machine stitched 1/4" in the white areas.

I also have been working on some blue and white applique. These are the first two blocks of the 1857 Album Quilt by Sentimental Stitches. I have been seeing these blocks posted to Instagram and finally (caved ) joined in. I can't say I am going to make all 80+ blocks, but these first two have been fun. I have wanted to make a blue and white quilt for awhile. This seemed to fit the bill.. we'll see how it goes.

Sentimental Stitches post the patterns (3-4 a month) on their blog and you can also purchase previous month's blocks on their online store.

That is my January update. Where did the first month of the year go??

Oh... I have one more January update to show.

If you follow me on Instragram you have already seen this, but I can't help sharing again because I am such a proud aunt. The top photo is of my nephew, Chris, who worked in the Whitehouse for the Obama administration. About 2 weeks before the end of his term, appointees were invited to have photos taken with the president. So cool!

The bottom photo includes my brother, sister-in-law, my niece Brigit (far right), my nephew Sean (far left) and Chris's girlfriend.

Happy Stitching!

Deb

I am linking up at Kathy's Quilts Slow Sunday Stitching since that is what I plan to do the rest of the day!

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all!

At the beginning of the year I always like to take a look back at my year in quilts. It gives me a sense of accomplishment when I am also looking at my UFO list! LOL

Now this is not a complete list of everything I worked on this year, but they are some of my favorites. When I take the time to look back I realize that I did get a lot of quilting accomplished in 2016!

My final finish for 2016 was this mini Christmas table runner or candle mat. I enjoyed doing the big stitch quilting on it and happy to take it off my APQ UFO Challenge 2016 list.

Do you remember this list posted last January? This was my UFO list from the All People Quilt UFO Challenge. As you can see I got quite a few done on this list. It was helpful to write it down..great for commitment, and to have it hanging in my studio all year as a reminder.
Some of these finishes are in the photo collage above. YAY!

Some of the unfinished projects from the 2016 list have made it onto the 2017, and that's okay. Here is my completed APQ UFO Challenge 2017 list. You can join the party by clicking here.
Gracie is going to be keeping count and watching to see that I stick to the list! I think she is saying, "Com'on Mom, I know you can do it!", or she is saying, "Seriously, all this in 2017??"
Either way, it will be fun!

I hope you enjoy this first day of the new year. Good health and happiness for everyone in 2017. Thank you so much to my blog friends and followers for all your support, kind words, and following along on my quilting journey!

Happy Stitching!

Deb