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

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.

HQAL: A New Start

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be making this post. Last week or so I discovered the dreaded ‘white screen of death’. First I had no idea there was such a thing until I began google searching what had happened. I had a total blank white screen, nothing, no headings, no tabs, nothing to click on to retrieve. It started a deep dive with you tube videos, google searches, lots of tears and no results. A consensus was to clear the cache but all those complicated instructions couldn’t lead me to how to do it. I even hopped over to blogger and thought this was my only option for the time being. When my SIL arrived from Alaska this spring I was sure he could fix this. Then a last ditch search on my on just hunting and pecking and I found the clear cache button, it was so easy and right there under the ‘develop’ heading on my mac – empty cache and not one search told me that. So I am here and ready to update you on my next project.

At our last posting I shared 3 possible starts for Christmas quilts for my great grands this year. I have started with the puppy dogs.

I am using the mini polka dot material for the backing. There are a heck of a lot of puppies on this but my plan is to quilt around all of them and turn a binding with the backing material.

Here’s Waylon who will be receiving this. I am in WA state and he is in N.C.. Do I love and understand technology and the ins and outs of its workings? No, but I can tell you this I am so thankful for video chatting. Everyday since he was born I have started my day with a chat with this little sweetheart. Eventually he was able to peer right into the phone looking and listening to me talk to him. Now he grabs the phone to hold it (with assistance) and even tries to initiate calls to me. (the blessings of technology)

Thank you for stopping by and visiting with me today. Below you will find the links to the others in this HQAL. If you have the time, please take a moment to stop in and visit with them. There are some wonderful projects in the making.

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: Late Current Christmas Card Update

Oh boy what a start to the our new year of SAL posting. I’m late but for a good reason. I won’t bore you with to many details except to say when I tried to post I had the dreaded “white screen of death” I had absolutely nothing I could work with or do to post. This sent me on a deep dive of youtube video’s and google searches with endless attempts to fix. Fearing this was hopeless for me, I even went over to Blogger and set up a new blog. The short of it as you now see is ~~~~~ I fixed it! One last attempt on my own just hunting and pecking thru my computer and I found a button to empty cache and here I am. (that was a hint from all my searches but nothing they told me to find that button had helped)

I finished my last Current Christmas card I had been working on when we last posted. You may remember it looked like this with the frogging of the mint outlining removed.

I chose the same floss as the bottle for the outline this time and I think it worked perfectly. Here she is

I have another project lined up to begin work on. I will share it with our next posting and close for now.

Thank you for visiting with me to today. Wishing everyone a great start to the new year.

Below are the links to the members in this SAL. If you are not in this SAL please take a moment to visit some of these amazing crafters

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

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

Our next updates will be posted on the 4th February 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: 9 Patch Christmas Quilt

I’ve reached my goal for this years Christmas quilt and completed it yesterday the 30th, just in time for our update.

I took her outside for the natural beautiful winter sun light (not a hint of snow in our corner of the northwest yet) Below, I tried to get a shot of the X in the middle of the blocks. Not a true tic tac toe board but I put the X’s in a diagonal thru each block.

The background material, also from my stash worked perfectly. With so much of it, I was able to make my own bias tape strips for the binding. It took me 2 nights of tv viewing to sew it on to both front of back (yes supper suffered those evenings)

I am still uncertain about my next project. I doubt that you remember the wedding ring quilt I had finished quilting back in 2019. I called her ‘Wishing You Goodwill’ as I bought her as an unfinished quilt top at the Goodwill. I still have not put the border/binding on to her. That’s on my to do list.

I also have 3 children’s Christmas quilts I want to make for 2024. I headed to Joann’s armed with a gift certificate from a daughter and found these darling prints on sale. The peppermint and polka dots will be the backing. Plus I have a special project now sandwiched together ready to start but that one I need to keep under wraps for now.

I have until our next posting to decide which to start with. Until then I am sending a big thank you to everyone for all the likes and encouragement thru this year. You have cheered me on to many quilting finishes and for that I am so grateful. Thank you stopping by and visiting with me and again thank you to Kathy for hosting us. Below are the links to use to visit the others in this HQAL, if you have the time please visit their pages, there are wonderful projects being created. (Nanette ~ wishing you a speedy recovery)

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