Christmas in July- just barely

This pattern is called Christmas 101 and is from the Jan Patek book Country Quilts.  

This is a great book with lots of Primitive patterns.

This is also a Jan Patek pattern  Santa Clause Lane which  I won in a giveaway on Lavender Quilts back in  August of 2012. 

The tops have been pieced for some time and I finally got them quilted and off my UFO list.
It was my plan to have quilts to hang for Christmas when all the family was still coming to my house for Christmas dinner.  Well, time has moved along and we now all get together at my Daughters house.
I have become very lax in my seasonal decorating  maybe these will inspire me to do more.

Fresh Laundry - My Retreat Quilt

This past May I went on a quilt retreat with 5 ladies from my small quilt group.  You know you always need something mindless to sew when you are sewing with a group of friends because with all the conversation it’s hard to concentrate on anything complicated.

 This was a free jelly roll pattern called Fresh Laundry by Liz Katsuro found here.  I already had the black and white jelly roll so I just cut a bunch of white 2.5 inch strips with my Go cutter and was good to go.

Yesterday I finally found time to put the binding on.  I have started stitching most of my bindings by machine using the method shown here.  There is just not enough time for me to stitch them all by hand and for quilts that will be washed a lot I think it makes a stronger edge.

While looking around YouTube the other day I ran across this Video called
"Quilt Binding, The final connection”.  It was something new to me and I thought some of you might be interested in seeing it.
That’s all for today.
Happy stitching,
Nancy

Benjamin Biggs and a new toy

Blocks six and seven the  latest blocks for the Benjamin Biggs quilt.

All my blocks together.  I really think I need to invest in a new camera or better lighting because the fabrics don’t seem to look their best in these pictures.

I also discovered a new tool which I hope will make squaring up all these blocks a little easier.  It’s Karen Kay Buckley’s Perfect Adjustable Square.  I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t give an opinion on how well it works.  I am hoping it will take some of the fear I have about squaring blocks away.

Here’s hoping you find some time to stitch today,

Nancy

Chester Criswell

I have gotten a little behind posting about my Chester Criswell blocks so I thought I would do a little update

Block 21 Mary Trayner

Block 22 Jesse Jackson Smith

Block 23 Mary Watkins

Block 23 is the last block for this year so I tried to organize a little and see what I had.  I have been working on this quilt for two years now just using reds and greens from my stash of reproduction fabrics and different patterned cream background fabrics.  I have begun to worry that maybe I was ending up with just a great hodgepodge of colors that might not all go together so well.

It’s not too easy to tell by looking at these pictures but I think I can make it work if I mix things up a bit and spread the colors around.

Some of the blocks in this quilt were repeated and I might just take the duplicates out so it would not be quite so large because 37 blocks plus this large center block which is the size of 4 of the smaller 12 inch blocks tends to make a very big quilt.  

Tell me do I really need to continue on for another year?

Happy stitching,

Nancy

Timeless Reflections Gift

I was lucky enough to win these lovely fabrics from Kyle at Timeless Reflections.  Don’t the go well with my Auntie Green quilt.

Thanks Kyle,

Nancy

Sawtooth Medallion

Sawtooth Medallion  is a pattern from the book  

A Treasury of Scrap Quilts by Nancy J Martin.  

It was one of my first attempts at needle turn appliqué.

I finished the top at least 6 years ago if not longer and put it away until I became a better long arm  quilter.  Well, I have finally figured out you don’t become a better quilter by absorption or by buying books and tools.  

You actually need practice.

Having finally come to this conclusion I decide to just get busy and quilt some of the many tops I have stored away.
So just pretend you are on galloping horse when you look at this one.
Happy stitching,
Nancy

Happy Independence Day Everyone!

I looked all through my quilts and this is the only patriotic one I could come up with.  

It's a little pattern from Diane at Butterfly Threads.  It even comes with a tiny little tumbler template.

Diane has this picture posted today  and it’s much clearer than mine.

Happy 4th!

Nancy