Mill's Girls Top finally Finished!

After a few months and a lot of mistakes, I've finally finished the top.  I don't think I like working with batiks.  They're very slippery.  Next time, I'll have to try using starch to help hold them still while I sew them together. I also helped my daughter finish up her community service project.  She sewed a row quilt together for the local fire department.  You should have seen her face when I told her I wasn't going to help her sew on the binding. I showed her a few stitches and sent her on her own.  What a great job she did!

Mills Girls 1

Mills Girls pic 2

Rachael's first quilt

Busy Couple of Weeks

Things are starting to get back to normal after the passing of my father-in-law, Richard E. Mooney.  He was a great man and inspired me through his rosary making for others in need, to make quilts for those in need these past couple of weeks.  I have been able to finish 2 of them completely and just have to sew the binding on to the other and have them ready for delivery tomorrow.

In addition to working on the project linus quilts, I was able to finish two more Farmer's Wife blocks, 2 Mills Girls Block and quilt another lap sized quilt.  I can't show that though yet.  It's a Christmas present.  So look for that after Christmas.

Project Linus 1 1/2 strip quilt proudly displayed
by my son Andrew.  It's a Christmas quilt.

Project Linus quilt I call Cherry Joy.

Mills Girls Block 3

Mills Girls block 4

Bat's Wings

Spool

Two more Civil War Blocks

The first Louisiana block is  and the second London Square.  To read the many interesting stories that go along with the quilt blocks, go to http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com.  .  It's been a lot of fun for me to build the blocks and read the stories along with them, quite and education!  I especially liked the story of Frances Anne Kemble, an actress from Europe that married a man from the south.  She married him, had two daughters and ended up in a nasty, public divorce which left her without her children.  She didn't like that his family got their fortune based on slavery and the fact that her husband treated her very poorly.  I can't imagine losing my children to anyone.  I wonder if she ever got to see them again.

Louisiana

London Square

Mill's Girls and Twisted Mystery AND Baby pinwheel DONE!

It's been a long day of  quilting, ripping out, quilting and binding a final quilt.  Progress is finally made on my Twisted Mystery quilt from Carol Doak.  I think I'm happy to have one of my projects tops completed.  Now to look into other ideas.  First, I need to quilt the baby quilt and the Twisted Mystery.  I also have another quilt in the works, but can't show it until after Christmas.  I was also able to finish one block of the Mill's Girls Quilt along quilt.  It's a bit taxing since the batik fabrics like to wiggle under the presser foot.  Ugh!  Onward!  After I post, it's off to finish off the binding of a quilt I'll post later.

New Baby Quilt - Due in November
Idea from Missouri Quilt Company Tutorials

Mill's Girls Quilt Along
First Block

Twisted Mystery Quilt
Carol Doak
WHEW!

More Progress!

I finished a couple more blocks today.  One is from a Carol Doak Blog and uses paper piecing.  I 'm a bit behind and have some more blocks to do before I'm where I'm supposed to be, but so far I love the stars.  The picture is sideways.  One of these days, I'll figure out how to flip them in my blog.  The second block is a Civil War Block titled Lincoln's Platform.  Pretty cool!  I'm loving that blog.

Carol Doak Mystery Quilt

Civil War Quilt - Lincoln's Platform

Quilts for charity

I just read a blog in search of quilts for homeless children in Grand Rapids, MI. The quilts are for Christmas presents for those children. If you wish to learn more go to this website.

http://blog.mlive.com/runningwithneedles/2009/10/mother_daughter_channel_grief.html

Farmer's Wife Blocks and Civil War Blocks

Birds in the Air

Cotton Boll

I just finished two more Civil War Blocks, but hesitated on the Farmer's Wife.  I like paper piecing, but it gets so confusing for my scrambled up head to make heads or tails out of them sometimes.  So I researched online to see if anyone had measured out the blocks so that they could be rotary cut.  I came upon A Bee in my Bonnet blog!  Originally, I found it on the iPad and then sent it to my computer so that I could link it up to my blog.  When I started to go over the site again today, what a surprise it was to find music streaming out of it.  The music is from an era that so reminds me of my mother and of my own playlist.  What a treat!  I loved it so much, I added her button to my blog.  I can't wait to see what she posts next.

Accomplishments before the Tiger Game!

I finished two other Civil War blocks today along with a Farmer's Wife block.  I feel like I'm making a little dent in my progress at least.  While I quilt, my husband is busy making wine.  See all the pics below.  I have about an hour before the Tigers take on the Yankee in game 4!  Here's hoping the Tigers pull it off in just 4 games!  As I watch the game, maybe I can pull apart #2 of my Mystery quilt star blocks as I wasn't supposed to sew the four sections together.  Darn it!

The Big Dipper Farmer's Wife Blocks

Log Cabin and Richmond Civil War Blocks

New Mystery Quilt

I started yet another project.  It's a paper piecing mystery quilt through the Carol Doaks yahoo group.  The first two blocks are shown below.  It's one project that I'm actually caught up on!  Now onto my farmer's wife and civil war blocks.

Dogs and Frogs and Finally Done

I finally finished Phil's log cabin star quilt.  I love the Chickadee fabric that I was able to find for the back of the quilt.  So fitting!  For some reason, the internet wants to turn a couple pictures sideways, but you get the idea. While I've been quilting in my new sewing room, the dogs have been busy watching frogs in the egress window.  I was able to snatch a few pics of the frog (or toad) that the dogs couldn't quite find.  He made himself practically invisible.

Weekend Progress

I was able to get my husband's quilt quilted on my machine.  Thanks to watching videos on youtube, I learned to use the supreme slider along with my new machine and tables setup beside and behind my machine table.  What a breeze!  I'm thrilled to be able to get back to quilting my own quilts.  The binding is attached to the front, but I have to whip stitch it on the back yet.  I've attached a picture of it before I sandwiched them all together.  I absolutely love the chicadee fabric on the back, especially since that's our street name.  So fitting.  I was also able to get to cutting my fabrics for the Mill's Girls quilt that I'm starting with my web group.  Busy!  My dog, Zuzu was especially interested in what was going on.  The basement is her favorite hang out since the quilt room has a window where the frogs hang out.

new blocks

Today I tackled another Farmer's Wife block along with a Civil War block.  I've decided that paper piecing is the way to go for the Farmer's Wife.  The Civil War block was tricky and it really didn't turn out the way I had hoped.  To make my day a little brighter though, my daughter bought be a jelly roll of yellows and blacks for my birthday.  Fun stuff!  My other daughter decided to wrap herself up in a bow and said she was my present.  Too funny!

Farmer's Wife Blocks

Ok...I tried the templates, but apparently for the wrong blocks, so I turned back to paper piecing to finish a block.  I now have 3 of the blocks completed.  These are tough.  I have to practice more with paper piecing.  It's probably the most accurate way, but I hate using bigger pieces of fabric and then losing parts of each piece because it has to be cut off.  I'll try some more this weekend.  Wish me luck.

Perfect Patchwork Templates

I got tired of paper piecing my Farmer's Wife Blocks because my printer doesn't love me.  So, I bought the Perfect Patchwork Templates set S.  I read on another blog that the quilter (sorry I can't remember where) started using these templates.  I can't wait to go to my sewing room and cut out the next block.  I'm hoping that the templates are my answer.  I also got some new civil war fabric in the mail!

 

Lots of Help

I am lucky enough to be part a wonderful community of quilters online.  They've given me a lot of help and suggestions on how to get my blog up and running.  What fun!  Thanks to all of you that have helped out.  I guess I can start going back in time and show what projects I've been working on and trying to get to finished.  One is a log cabin star quilt that I have made for my husband.  He called first dibs.  The pattern is by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company and is titled Raise the Roof.  I just love stars and log cabins and found this pattern to be a lot of fun.  I still have to quilt the top and plan on getting to that soon.  I'm sure you can see that I've also  used it as my side bar.

BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop

My husband loves it when I get a package from the Fat Quarter Shop because he loves the name!  So, I guess I better order more to make sure he's happy! I've been able to finish 4 blocks from a block of the month series that they are hosting.  I absolutely LOVE the fabric and have had quite a few comments from friends and family and their astounded I can pick such lovely colors that all seem to work together beautifully.  I haven't the heart to tell them that it's all done for me!  What they don't know won't hurt them I guess.  Check out my 4 blocks below.  I have had fabric left over that I have been able to put into 2 Farmer's Wife blocks and I'll post those later.

Civil War Quilt Blocks

Today is my first day of blogging.  I've been fortunate enough to stumble across a website by Barbara Brackman http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/ where where she gives tutorials of quilt blocks along with a little story of history about the civil war.  I ran across the website a few months back, but haven't had the time to get to putting together any of the blocks.  Today I was finally able to get to the first block, which immediately led me to the 2nd block.  I've enjoyed doing these and can't wait to catch up to her latest post today with the 38th block!  I have a lot of work ahead for me, but I get to read and enjoy the stories that come along with the blocks.  It's quite possibly the most I have ever enjoyed reading about history.

I've posted the pictures of my block below and hope to be able to further my blog as I learn how to use it.  Thanks for visiting! :)

Block #1 Catch Me if You Can

Block #2 Northern Star