HQAL: A 2nd Finish And A New Start

At our last posting I had a finish with Waylon’s Christmas Quilt 2024 ~ here is the picture I shared

It just needed something more. I decided on adding some ric rac. My choices were limited as Joanns only had red or white and no green, white just seemed to stark, so red it was. Picking red I knew it would get lost with the red binding. I tore strips of green fabric from my stash to make a ric rac border. I love how this turned out.

Waylon’s Christmas Quilt

Not much sun in the forecast these past few days so I came outside to get a good picture of the colors this time.

If you remember this was 1 of 3 children’s quilts I am doing for Christmas this year. On to the next 🙂 I decided to work the Santa quilt. I used the peppermint candy print for the background. I am quilting a heart design scattered all over in different directions. I am doing the hearts free hand with no pattern. Just making a light white chalk outline and then quilting over it. Light and white is often lost in Santa’s beard but is not a problem. I really enjoy quilting hearts, they go fast and I have lots to do.

Wyatt’s Christmas Quilt

Thank you for visiting with me today and won’t you please join me in visiting with the others in this HQAL

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

Happy Cinco De Mayo

SAL: East West Sampler Update # 5

Welcome back to this SAL update for my East West Sampler

At our last posting the sampler looked like this. I had completed the border.

My time has been split between a few quilting and junk journaling projects but I am real pleased with the progress I’ve made in these past 3 weeks. I have added the blue star medallions and the sweet border below the Home Is Best. Actually in looking at the directions the placement of the heart border is misplaced. A crease in the paper looked like the dividing line under the home is best but it should have been centered between the two blue lines. I am going to keep this for now and maybe add something into the blank spaces later. I’ll wait to see as the project progresses.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting with me today. If you have some time you can join me in visiting with the others in the SAL. There are some amazing projects in the works.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, 

Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Our next updates will be posted on the 19th May 2024.

About the SAL

Please note this SAL is not accepting any more new members until further notice but this is what it’s all about anyway. This SAL (Stitch Along) is slightly different to other SALs in that we don’t all stitch the same design at the same rate. We choose ONE unfinished project, or ONE new one, and show progress of its completion over a series of three weekly updates. There are no deadlines and no set amount to stitch. The result is that the space in our drawers full of WIPs (works in progress) is gradually being freed up to store lots of new crafty goodness. It’s surprising how much motivation I’ve gained from being in this SAL.

HQAL: A Quilt Finish and Junk Journal Make

At our last posting I shared I had completed the Christmas quilt for my great grandson Waylon. Here is the picture posted. Looking at it something was missing, that little ‘wow’ factor.

With a few suggestions from you all, I have decided on adding some ric rac around the border. I went with red. It’s been bought but I have not added it yet.

My next project was to pic the backing fabric for the next Christmas quilt (2 of 3). I am going to make the Santa quilt with the peppermint backing fabric.

But before I started that I received a baby shower invitation. It turned out the daughter of one of my closest friends was/is having a baby girl due in July. She has a 15 year old boy and this little bundle is a precious surprise. The invite came 12 days before the shower, which was yesterday.

The question became, could I make a quilt in that amount of time? I have so much material in my stash I knew I would have no problem picking something, but hand piece and hand quilt in 11 days? I decided to machine piece and then hand quilt – that might be doable if I did nothing else.

I did have a finish. Here is the quilt I made. I went very basic on the quilting only bordering the blocks and then adding some hearts. I wanted to try and quilt the pinwheels but I was running out of time. The backing material is a beautiful cherry blossom fabric left over from another quilt. I wasn’t sure about i at first but I think it worked. You can see I turned it and used for the border.

Talk about turning up the pressure on time sensitive projects, I wanted to do something special for my girlfriend, soon to be grandma (and if I did for one grandma what about the other?) (why this was important to me is because my close friend has been battling MS for many years, added to that was cancer which she fought and it was in remission. Just recently the cancer has returned and that battle will begin again) I decided I just had to make them each a ‘Grandmother’s Junk Journal’

Here are the 2 journals, each filled with all kinds of ephemera relating to babies, girls, moms and daughters. There are lots of vintage/antique book pages and photos, vintage lace’s, tags and beautiful printable papers and pockets. Each one has a vintage baby announcement and there are lots of places to write down baby milestones, hopes and dreams. In another blog posting I will share photos of the inside.

Thank you so much for visiting with me today. I hope you will join me in visiting with the others in this HQAL. There are some fabulous projects in the works.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

SAL: East West Sampler Update #4

Time to check in again on my East West Sampler project. At our last posting it looked like this ~

I continued to work on her pretty consistently but then put her aside for the last week or so. I received a baby shower invite and decided I wanted to make a baby quilt which I needed to get done with the 13th invite date. Since I hand piece and hand quilt, I opted for a short cut, machine piecing and then hand quilting. I am closing in on a finish but this slowed me down. The hearts were a quick stitch and only took me a few hours.

Here is where I am with Miss East West

I just love how she is turning out. I still have a bit more to do as you can see from the picture below.

Thank you so much for visiting with me today, now I am off to check in with the others in this SAL. If you would like to join me click on the links below. The participants live all over the world so you may need to allow for time differences. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie, 

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, 

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy

HQAL: Waylon’s Christmas Quilt

I have continued working on Waylon’s Christmas Quilt. At our last posting I had shown you these pictures

I am simply out line stitching around the scotty dog and the big dog wearing the Santa stocking cap. The backing material is red with tiny white polka dots on it. This is mindless stitching while watching tv in the evening. My goal was to have this finished by the end of March and I have succeeded. Here she is

She seems rather plain to me and not very exciting so I think what I might do is add some contrasting white or green piping on the inside border or some green or red ric rac. I am not sure and would love some suggestions on what to do. If this had been for a girl you would have seen lace on the border.

Waylon just turned 11 months

Next I will be moving on to the 2nd of 3 Christmas quilts for great grands. I’ll update with my fabric choice at our next posting.

Thank you for visiting with me today and now I am off to check in with the others in the HQAL. I also wanted to wish those of you celebrating the Easter holiday a very blessed day.

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

SAL: East West Sampler Update # 3

March 17 and the top of the morning to you 🙂 Are you wearing the green on this SAL update? Are the daffies all in bloom where you’re at? (climate permitting) It’s really something here in the NW corner of the U.S.. This photo was in our local newspaper, the Bellingham Herald. It’s Daffoldil Festival time with these fields in La Connor, WA.

At our last posting I had shown you this picture of the East West Sampler. I had corrected my counting error which led to the misplacement of everything and started over. Everything is back in sync.

I have been working steadily on the project, putting in at least an hour just about every day. Once I got on the right track I can honestly say I am really enjoying working on this. Here is where I am now.

Thank you for visiting with me today and if you have the chance please drop in on the others in this SAL. There are some amazing projects in the works.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

HQAL: Waylon’s Christmas Quilt

As I continue to work on Waylon’s Christmas quilt, it certainly feels appropriate to be working on this as our weather has ‘march’ed in like a lion with cold temps and snow flurries yesterday reminding me of the anticipation of Christmas 2023.

Have I made progress? I sure have. I won’t bore you with before picks from our last posting as the pattern is exactly the same.

It’s really hard to tell from photo’s (from the front) but I thought the back gave you a better look at the overall progress. I’d love to have a March finish with this as I have 2 more to make and 3 months work would bring me into September, a great time to have these done.

Before I go, I would like to show you something else that I picked up at an estate sale this weekend. A bit of eye candy to end this post on.

I paid $5 (both) for this gorgeous card table size tatted table cloth. As you can see the tag says about 85 years old. This estate sale was at a home built in 1929. It belonged to a couple who were antique dealers. Try to imagine a home almost in the exact state of its build, the same wall papers, narrow not up to code stair ways, mini updated Victorian with no updated amenities. (I placed the purple paper under the cloth to see the pattern better)

And this beauty below is gorgeous and I think deserves a gorgeous frame.

Thank you for visiting with me today and now I look forward to checking in with the others in this Hand Quilt Along. Please feel free to contact Kathy at the links below if you would like to join us.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

SAL: East West Sampler Update 2

At our last posting I had begun the Better Homes and Gardens 1983 East West Sampler. I ran into trouble right off the bat. For some reason my brain could not understand the instructions of 1 stitch = 2 squares. Funny now, way too simple. Luckily many of you came to my rescue and almost immediately I realized what I had to do.

I wasted no time and removed all the stitching however I decided to leave the squaty blue line and then started over. Here is where I am now

She looks so much better done correctly 🙂 and the heart and little house fits correctly ~

They say it takes a village and in my case it really did to get me back on track. Thank you to everyone for your help. I’m actually having a lot of fun working this pattern now.

And thank you for visiting with me today. Now I am off to visit with the others in this SAL. You can join me by clicking on the links below.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, 

Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

HQAL: Waylon’s Christmas Quilt

A big February hello to my hand quilting friends. For this posting of the HQAL I am really just getting started on my great grandson Waylon’s Christmas Quilt for this year. At our last posting I showed you these pictures below. I had chosen the puppy material to use and the backing material. Instead of an overall pattern I decided to outline stitch some of the dogs.

I got in some good stitching time these past 3 weeks. Here are a few pictures of whats been going on. I am outlining the scotty dog and his friend with the hat. You will have to take my word for it, I have a nice little section of it done.

This past week I went out thrifting to our local Value Village and found a beautiful Quilt book for $3.99 with 30% off….. Country Quilts by County Living Magazine….. the photographs are so beautiful. I thought you might enjoy seeing a peek.

I just had to show you this enlarged

Through out the book are wonderful directions and articles too.

And who doesn’t love a crazy quilt?

If you are a lover of primitive decor can I suggest a wonderful channel I found recently and have been watching on youtube, it’s Bridgett’s Primitive Passion. Set to music after a brief introduction with the homeowner, she takes you on tour of their homes. If you get a chance to catch a few episodes, I know you wont be disappointed.

Well that about wraps it up for this check in. Thank you for visiting with me today. Now I am off to visit the others in this HQAL and if you have some time, won’t you join me by clicking on the links below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

SAL: East West Sampler

A new project for the SAL

I am working this vintage Crafts Kits designed for Better Homes and Gardens 1983. I paid $10 for it off of eBay. I was looking for something with a more primitive look this go round and this fit the bill with a great price too. There are 3 colors, red, green and blue.

I’ve got a start. It’s a little tricky as 1 stitch equals 2 squares. For some reason this is giving me a problem. I need to frog the green square as I have mis counted and made it too large. I had put the heart inside which alerted me to my error, so the heart has been removed already.

Looking at this now, I can see the H in home is misplaced as well. Do I remove and redo ? Will it matter when all is done? I am thinking I am going to make quite a few of the errors with this project. This one is going to be a slow and steady project.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting with me. Now I am off to visit with the others in this SAL. You can join me by clicking on the links below.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy