BE AN ELF (X2)

 I had the best of intentions to make 4 Elf quilts for all the grandkids this year.  I should have known that even just 2 quilts almost identical would be a stretch.  These adorable guys were pretty easy and fun to make. The pattern is by Jennifer Long at Sewastory.

I followed the pattern for the Elf  both times but changed up the bottom sections

.  For the Red Elf I just put a longer bottom section , wider side borders and some extra snowflakes.

Our Little Green guy has the called for borders I believe, but I swapped out the original lower section for some trees from Lori Holt's Vintage Christmas Book.

He's hand quilted along with the trees .... but his background is free motion quilted with loopy swirls and the border has machine quilted straight lines.

Backed with a cozy Minky. 

The Red Elf is backed in extra border and background material as well as a strip of fabric leftover from the backing on my Vintage Christmas quilt from last year.

No hand quilting on this baby.  I did  all over fairly large loopy swirls...I am still in awe of how easy my Janome 6650 makes fmq feel.  That extra throat space is sooooo worth it!!  I still prefer to handquilt when my hands lets me, but I'm slow at it so it's great to be able to finish the quilts from start to finish myself either way.

I'm pretty sure the kids will love them, the quilts are plenty big to be used for years to come.

started: March 2024

finished:   Oct. 2024

Linking up with Cynthia at OH SCRAP

 

A B C

My first Alphabet quilt, I'm happy with how it looks and feels.  LOL, the feel is just as important as the look, especially for little ones.  I am planning to donate this one. 

Almost all the fabric is by Lori Holt as are the blocks.

I used the pattern for her 6" tall letters and added borders to each block to increase the size to 10" finished.  The letters are not all the same width so some math was needed ...good  practice.

Machine quilting was done in a grid  on both sides of the blocks and hand quilting inside the blocks.  I was trying to keep it as soft and cozy as possible by avoiding dense quilting.

The quilt finished at 50 x 60  and shrunk to 48 x 57.75 after washing and drying.

The backing is a 60 inch wide Robin Hood fabric.

Two other quilts are in the process of being hand quilted.....what was I thinking !??!

My hands and wrists are not happy, but I'm still hoping to finish them eventually.  Next week I have a dr. appointment to get them checked out finally.

 

Feeling a lot like Fall around here. It's been a busy, fun Summer but Fall is always welcome!

 

KALEIDOSCOPE is making slow progress. The border is on, it's layered and pin basted and best of all ... the hand quilting has begun.

I'm big stitching a baptist fan design.  Its 3 inches with half inch spaces.

This is my more portable project.  It's from Bonnie and Camille's Quilt Bee Book.

That yellow star is not working for me.  I'm thinking of changing it to a medium green.

My sewing room is a disaster!!! I really need to get in there and clean it up.  Being in the basement, it's not tempting me to go down there. I'm toying with the idea of moving it to a guest bedroom on the main floor.

St. LOUIS 16 PATCH

 

My St. Louis 16 Patch Quilt was inspired my Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric addict. She gives a free tutorial called Meet me in St Louis .  I believe I made it one row bigger/longer that hers.

I used a fat quarter bundle ... but I can't remember the name of it.   Precuts appeal to me because I really dislike cutting from large pieces  of fabric.  However I'm not always thrilled with the variety in the precuts.

P

Free motion quilted on my Janome 6650....love that machine!

A pretty quick finish,, actually done last year but never got around to posting.

This one will likely go in the donation pile.

64 x 80

Most of today was spent putting these finished blocks into a topper:

So far it's 60 x 60.  It calls for a 5 inch border to make it 70 x 70.   Borders are not my best friend but I'm thinking to donate this one and the larger size will be good for an older child.

The pattern is KALEIDOSCOPE by Vanessa Goertzen for Lella Boutique.  I bought the pattern at least 5 years ago during a July shop hop after seeing it done up as a display.  LOL, can't believe I finally made it!

The main fabric is a Jelly Roll ... Bountiful Blooms by Sherri and Chelsi for Moda Fabrics.

Linking up with Cynthia at Oh Scrap!

Elori's Birthday Quilt

💖💖💖

Happy 3rd Birthday Sweet Elori!!

Every little girl needs a new quilt for her big girl bed and every quilting grandma is more than happy to sew one up .... stitched with lots of prayers, hugs and love.

Trying it out here for size at my house and yes there is another quilt peeking out underneath.

The pattern is a free one from Cluck Cluck sew.  That was my starting point, from there I added some rainbows and appliqued her name.  The boho rainbows were from a free colouring page online as were the letters.

I had planned on using this Lori Holt block at the top corner as the sun, but it didn't survive the cut!  It'll show up in a future quilt with large flowers.

The backing is minky, I know the kids all love the softness....so do I!!

The hearts are machine quilted, free motion and the background is hand quilted.  I just can't resist adding some hand quilting even if my hands pay for it later!

So glad I added this fabric for a bit of pop.  I had a 1 yard cut of it and was determined to fit it in. Pretty sure it's a Free Spirit fabric.

 I love this checked fabric, it goes well with the pinkish corals and golds.   I love it so much I used it for the binding.

Party day was a success...gifts, cousins, food.

Now I can publish the post without any one seeing the quilt too early. 

 I love making quilts for my grandkids.  Some Christmas quilts may or may not be on the go already!

For now I'm just having fun making Zinnia blocks from Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage 2 Book.  They are just so darn cute, I can't stop making them.

I finally used up the rest of my Itty Bitty Houses.  This may end up as a wall hanging. 

Linking up with Cynthia at OH SCRAP

2023 FINISHES

 Eight finishes, not a bad tally.  I imagine next year's total will be higher since I have more free days with my granddaughter  now in school . 

 The first five are hand quilted ...the last three machine quilted on my almost new Janome 6650.

The FIRST finish is from Lori Holt's book, SCRAPPINESS IS HAPPINESS.  

 A quick, easy one using charms. My favourite thing about this one is the hand quilting.

SECOND in line was COUNTRY BOY for my great nephew.  So fun playing with Lori Holt blocks.

THIRD was a TINY TUESDAY.... long time coming.

Fourth was PLAID from SCRAPPINESS IS HAPPINESS.

Fifth was SPARE SQUARES from SCRAPPINESS IS HAPPINESS

Sixth was SUMMER NIGHTS, a fun sew along from AUNT EM'S QUILTS.

Seventh was Sew Ho Ho (  VINTAGE CHRISTMAS by LORI HOLT).

My favourite of the year...it may have to stay up for the whole winter, lol.

Eighth and last was "Positively".

This year has brought some changes, age can do that.  My husband's knee issues are worsening and my hands are worsening. However in the bigger picture we are doing well and adapting, still keeping busy.

The other big change is a quieter house since the nearby grandkids are now all in school, we sure do miss having them here regularly a few days a week. We'll make up for it with sleepovers!

Happy New Year and Quilt on in '24!!!!

Linking up with Angela at SCRAP HAPPY SATURDAY

POSITIVELY

 Last Finish of 2023

There's many WIP's lingering in the sewing room, but my final 2023 finish is new project started a few weeks ago.  As a fellow quilter posted recently....can you say SQUIRREL ?  Sometimes you just need something easy and fun.  

This was a free pattern from Emily Dennis of  QUILTY LOVE called Scrap Stash Plus Quilt.   

The original plan was to only use plus blocks of all colours...use up those scraps.  

Well you know how plans go... I didn't like it so I eliminated the pink and bright green.  

Then I decided to stick to more black, blue, green and yellow.  Looking better, but it's been so dark and gloomy outside lately, my quilty soul needed to lighten it up...making for a much quicker finish which is always a winner!

Free motion quilting, still getting acquainted with my new/used machine and loving it.  Can I just say again how much I miss the big stitch hand quilting.  My hands don't miss it  but my heart does.   ....enough whining.  

The black striped binding really makes the quilt for me. I love it and wish I had a huge stash of it, but there's only enough for one more  medium sized quilt.  

The backing:

42 x 60 {40 x 57 after washing and drying}

Linking up with Oh Scrap