Thursday, July 26, 2018

Did You Wonder Where I Was?

It has been a day over two months since my last post.
Did you wonder where I was?

I have spearheaded ( okay chaired ) my church's major find raiser.
I have had cataract surgery ( okay, only on one eye so far )
I have learned to live a little bit more with my Rheumatoid Arthritis.
AND 
I have continued to sew and make quilts!

So on to the quilts.

Prior to the church festival, I went on a sewing spree. I knew that my sewing time would be severely restricted for the two weeks prior and the one week following th festival.
Here is some of what I accomplished during that time.

Additional Blocks for the 120 needed of "Box Kites" a Bonnie Hunter pattern from her book "Addicted to Scraps" and begun in a workshop with her last summer in Bedford, Pennsylvania at Mary's Quilt Shop. I have completed probably close to the number needed on this project, so look for the completed top in the near future.


"Carolina Chain" blocks , an ongoing leader/ender project, also from Bonnie Hunter's book "Addicted to Scraps". Lots more needed of this one so I will continue to make these blocks.


"Diamond Tiles", a block pattern published in Bonnie Hunter's column in Quiltmaker ( can you tell I am a fan of her scrappy world?!).


"Double Pinwheel" blocks from an Eleanor Burns, Quilt In A Day, publication and pattern of the same name. Most of these blocks are now complete so you can look for this quilt top to surface in the near future.


The alternate block for a quilt top pattern I found on the Internet. I will give more specifics on this next time.


These blocks are from a Missouri Star pattern and are complete now. Just waiting to sew this top together.


The "Pineapple Block" from an Eleanor Burns and Quilt in a Day block of the month Sampler Quilt that is available on her website. These are very large blocks compared to what I usually do!


I finished all of the pieces for my "So Big" quilt which is a Kelli Fannin pattern.


I sewed together the blocks for this top, which is from Amy Ellis's book, "Think Big, Quilts, Pillows and Tablerunners from 18 inch blocks". 25 blocks gives you a Queen sized quilt!  This has been quilted and now awaits its binding.


In the days leading up to surgery, the binding was sewn on this quilt.


This binding, and thus this quilt, was also completed. It is a scrappy trip type of quilt using a roll of solids from my stash.  It was started in July 2017 and sewn through the weeks until September of last year.  Finally it is completed.


I sewed all of the half square triangles needed for "Dessert Time".


I completed the binding for this quilt just before eye surgery.


After surgery, sunglasses were needed.


I also found out that my color acuity was impacted more than I thought by the cataract!
This matched much better before than it does now! Lol!


Last week I was able to sew this top together. It is now quilted and waiting to be bound and hung in the shop or the classroom. It is a new line of fabrics that Sharon has. 


Oh yes, I snuck in this cutie, right after the festival.  It uses a pack of 5 inch squares and some yardage and makes a nice small quilt.


Recently I sewed the rows together on this "Trailways" quilt. It is a pattern from Candlelite quilts that calls for 8 half yard pieces to make the top.  It is a bit bigger since had more than a half yard of many of these fabrics. I just kept on going!  Soon it will be at the long armer, once I figure out what to put on the back.

Looking ahead to August,
A quilt retreat for yours truly,
A bus trip to the "World of Quilts" quilt show in New Hampshire 
And
A trip to Pennsylvania for classes with Bonnie Hunter, so I can start more quilts to add to my UFO stash!

Looking forward to all of it!

Louise, on the island, penning a blog, for the first time in two months and a day