Wearing Hearts on Sleeves...

The end of 2011 and beginning of 2012 was tough. My mom fell in Oct of 2011, right after her 80th birthday. She fractured 2 vertebrae, broken her shoulder and her pelvis. She is recovered and doing great these days, but the journey from there to here was a long one.  Lots of days staying with her.. helping her.. going to the doctor.. wondering if she would rebound or if this was our new normal.  So very little quilting (or anything else for that matter) got done during that time.

Shortly after 1/1/12, I was home one day and determined to make SOMETHING.. I just needed to create! So I pulled fabrics and started a heart wall hanging.  It required large four-patches.. some for back grounds, some to create the hearts.. which were fused to the backgrounds and then appliqued. I got all the four patches made,  got 2 blocks fused and appliqued, 2 or 3 others fused and that was it.  

I just did not have time to work on it, I was tired and unfocused and that led to frustration. So I put it away. Thankfully I didn't let my frustration take over and throw it away!

Fast forward to 1/12013... my sweet hubby said "What ever happened to that heart wall hanging you were working on?"  I didn't remember where it was, but he thought he knew.. so we went and found it and looked at what was there. Decided it might be worth salvaging. So I started 2013 reclaiming a UFO and I am so glad!  

I finished up the blocks and got them pieced together. Hubs and I brainstormed about borders and decided a thin white followed by a pieced outer border would be good. Got those added. He quilted it using Connecting Threads Red-Violet Essential Cotton Thread.  Looks so good!  It is all done and ready to hang on the wall come February 1 (Snowmen are hanging there now and I'd like to enjoy them a bit longer).

This is NOT your typical heart / Valentine's quilt.  Yes there is pink and red and purple in it.. but lots of other colors too. I love the plaids!  They are either from 100% cotton plaid shirts I bought at thrift stores (Thank you Bonnie at Quiltville for that idea!) or from some 100% cotton shirting fabric I found on sale at Hancocks a year or so ago. Bright fun plaids. 

In a weird was this is a combination of our 2 kids. Our daughter was born on Valentine's, so the hearts connect us to her. And our son loves plaids, so the fabric connects us to him.  

Baby Lou's Quilt

I made this top back in September for my SIL's first grandbaby.. a sweet little girl named, Lou.  Then I got caught up in an 80th birthday bash for my mom and shortly after that she fell and broke some bones (still recovering from that)... needless to say I got essentially nothing "quilty" done during the last part of 2011. 

Well 2012 is here and it is time for new stuff.. but first some of the old has to be finished up. Lou's was first on the list!

The Mad Quilter (a.k.a. hubby) and I got this one sandwiched up and off he went!  Simple in-the-ditch quilting, but on what a difference it makes. This quilt top is now a quilt!  A cute girlie quilt with lots of pink and green.  It will be headed off to Miss Lou this week.

There are 2 more baby quilts in the works.. one is quilted (again The Mad Quilter at work!) and ready to be bound. The other is waiting patiently for some batting.  And I am working again on my Snowman Faces quilt... finishing up the embrodiery so it can be quilted.

Then let the new stuff begin! (OK there are more UFOs to work on, but once these goals are met I am going to work on something new for a bit!)

"Belle"

Finishing things up....

Two projects were finished this weekend... one just in time!

First - a baby quilt for a shower this afternoon!  The nursery for this baby boy has a jungle theme. I had no jungle fabric here so I found a charm pack on eBay and ordered them... then found some fabric at Hancock's and bought it. Didn't know which I would use.... and then ended up using both!  I think it turned out very cute.

Here is a close up of the quilting. Hubby did that part and chose a bright blue thread. (He also did the binding.  Such a treasure!)

That blue looks so good on the back. This photo really doesn't show it well as the back is a dark milky chocolate brown.

I am sure the Mommy and Daddy to be will like it. I so love making baby quilts!

I have to add that today at church I went to love on one of the sweet babies we have had born recently and their wadded up in his carrier was the quilt we made for him. I have seen it with him many times this winter and just love it!  Not because I think it is a marvelous quilt or because I want folks to see it, but because it is being used!  That, for me, is the best way to say Thanks!  Use the quilt!

The other completed project was a UFO. I found a cute BOM in 2005.. YEP 2005.. early in my quilting days. It was redwork and I just fell in love with it.  I immediately had an idea of how I wanted to do it. Each month I would use a specific themed fabric to coordinate with the pattern.  I would pick a color from the fabric to use for the embroidery.  I jumped in like gangbusters for 6 or so months and then it happened... Quilter's ADD... I got caught up in other projects. I would work a bit on the blocks every now and then. I made it through November and then set it aside... for several years!  So in January, I pulled it out and finished up the December embroidery and then set out to create a quilt. I love how it turned out.

This is one I did start to finish on my own.  (If you could see the binding up close you would know that hubby did not do it!  He is much better than I am at that.)

Here are some close ups of the blocks:

The pattern is from Bobby Socks Quilt Company  and is called Child's Play. There are some super cute whimsical patterns there, as well as a free BOM available.

Off to a baby shower... then home to work on the GFG some more.

"Belle"

2 more bite the dust......

Hubby, a.k.a. the Mad Quilter, grabbed 2 more tops that have been lying around for a while ... we sandwiched them up.. and off he went.  They are now both quilted and bound and ready for someone to use to keep warm and cozy. 

As I have mentioned here before, Hubby is an architect (the best in my opinion), so linear design is something he does very well... and it is showing up in his quilting lately. He had fun creating designs when quilting these 2.

Here are some pix:


UFO #5

UFO #6:

There are 3 more UFOs ready to be bound here. Another top pieced and quilted by Hubby... one pieced by me and quilted by him... and one pieced and quilted by me. So there will be more pix coming soon!

I guess 2011 is the year of UFOs here.

"Belle"

More Journals... another one bites the dust via the Mad Quilter... and a UFO challenge for me!

I whipped up some more journal covers a while back... you might notice that one is button-less. I forgot to include the stretch band for the closure!  Oh well... a sweet young lady loved the fabrics and took it just the way it is! The wild pink and purple one is mine and the other I made for my daughter. I like hers too!

The Mad Quilter (a.k.a my hubby) continues to work through finished tops that have stacked up over the past few years.  The latest one is a joint effort. I made the blocks... pieced them into rows... and then pushed them aside as I went on to bigger and better things. Hubby found them and put the rows into a top.. added a flange and borders... and then set it aside with a zillion other finished tops. Last week he pulled it out, we got it sandwiched and away he went with the quilting.

He does straight-line quilting and he has been having a blast trying new patterns.  He is an architect and it is showing in his quilting! I love the cranberry thread color.. looks so good.

Some online Quilt buddies and I have set a UFO challenge for ourselves for the first 3 months of 2011. I have "entered" 3 of my UFOs knowing full well that it will be a miracle if I get 1 done!  I have several new projects that have to be done, as well as my mom's GFG I am doing by hand that is running behind!

Even if they aren't all done by March 31, I hope to finish all of these by the end of 2011.

This is a Mile-a-Minute quilt I did a number of years ago. I attempted to quilt it. I failed. So heavy and so many seams... I only have a regular sewing machine... so I decided to tie it. Got bored after getting about 1/3 of it tied.  I need to start tying again!

I have this wonderful Fall Quilt top that is essentially done except I am adding some hand embroidered touches (leaf veins and such). About 1/2 done on that.

And lastly a redwork quilt I started years ago from an online free BOM called Child's Play. I have 11 of the 12 blocks embroidered and about 1/2 of the 12th one done. I even have fabric for the block borders and sashing and such.

The goal in the challenge is for them to be completely done.. quilted.. bound.. the works! I am shooting for the moon... hope I at least break the ozone layer!

"Belle"

UFO turns into Guest Room Quilt

I am trying to quilt some of the tops that fill my hall closet! 3 became gifts for 3 special girls (see post below) and while looking through and making a list of all my loose ends, I found a green and white top I forgot about. The pattern is ZigZag from www.quilterscache.com This block and color (green and white) were chosen for a quilt lottery I sometimes participate in with my online quilt group. Well I pulled fabrics.... cut fabrics.... never got them sewn into blocks and mailed off! But I didn't want to waste them, so I made the blocks with what I had cut plus enough more to create a top. And then it sat and sat.. until I found it a few weeks ago. My hubby, who is a whiz at quilting and soo fast, was on a quilting jag so we got this one sandwich and off he went! It now resides on the bed in my mom's guest room and looks lovely there. And I can check 1 more UFO off the list!