Graduation Quilts Nearly Finished

 Here is the jelly race quilt I did at the Sew-In on the 15th.  It is the last of the 'graduation quilts' I have to do until my youngest nephew (he's about 10 or 11 now) graduates from high school.

Now I have three graduation quilts to finish (quilt, bind, label) along with two wall hangings and then a Christmas wall hanging I'd like to get done for this year but we'll see.  I also have knitting and crochet projects I'd like to get done for the holidays too.

 

 

September Block of the Month

Finally finished my blocks-of-the-month for the Craftsy BOM online class I'm taking.  Curved piecing -- while the blocks are very pretty, the process is not easy.  I am thinking that it will be a while before I attempt these again. 

Applique Top is Done!

I finished the top.  Once I figured out what to do with the applique (it looked a little scary, my thought, with the 'possum' hanging from the tree with her sleeping babies) portion, the rest was easy.


So I decided to remove the possum and her sleeping babies but had to replace it with something as I 'incorporated' the extra tree limb.

 

So below you can see that I added a swing.  Intially it was empty but you could still see a trace of the possum babies (we won't even go into how that happened).  So I tacked a raccoon down and he's happy swinging while the toddlers are sleeping. 

 

Here is the finished top to the wall hanging.  Now I'm going to work on the back putting all the scrap fabrics together.

 

 

Made my own continuous binding too!  Using the following link:

 

http://modernquiltlove.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/how-to-make-continuous-bias-binding/

 

Initially I didn't see how that small piece of fabric would make enough binding for my wall hanging but it made more than enough.  So now, I will also pick up fabric to make my own double fold bias binding in whatever print/color I deem appropriate instead of using pre-made.

 

Now that the top is done, I'm off to a sew-in with some ladies from the Ohio Valley Quilt Guild (Cincinnati).  I've never done this and I'm looking forward to a day of quilting with others who feel the same.  I am bringing a home-made jelly roll to turn into a quilt top for my nephew.  It's the last of the graduation quilts.  How liberating it will feel once they are all machine quilted, bound and off to their new homes.

 

Need to go and finish some things around the house before I need to leave.

 

Happy Stitching!

September Already!

It's hard to believe that September is here all ready!  The year is passing so quickly.  I've no ambition to do anything but 'chilling' just doesn't feel right. 

I played with the pattern for the GD#1's hoodie to make it larger.  She's two and I'd like to make it a little bigger so she can wear it longer.  I dug out my green yarn (I seem to have a few skeins fortunately three are the same dye lot) and did my gauge.  Then I calculated how to make it just a tad bigger.

I have the Possum Patch wall hanging sitting on the sewing machine ready to go.  I made the swing and now need to tack down the words, stitch them down and move on to the border (piecing... yeah!!)

I'm doing a "Sew In" with some women from my quild (Ohio Valley Quilters' Guild in Cincinnati) on the 15th.  I have my material ready in a container to take with me.  DS#2's birthday is the 14th but when you're turning 24, Mom & Dad aren't necessary to celebrate. 

I'm making smothered beef for dinner and need to get the pasta going. 

Hope everyone is enjoying a safe and fun holiday weekend!

Blessings ~~