Beyond The Cherry Trees

I know you all must think all I do is applique and for the most part you are  right.

This is my block three.  Those dreaded fingers.  I was really surprised  it didn't fall apart when I washed it.  

This is one I am not at all happy with -  putting it aside while I worked on others was not a good idea because now it doesn't seem to fit in. I changed my yellows and this one seems way too dark.  Heaven forbid I should have to do it over.

If anyone has any suggestions as to how I could make it fit better please speak up.  I would really appreciate it.

Block eight was a fun block and not too challenging just lots of  little leaves.

I didn't do the bird in the center on block nine but I did add an extra leaf.  Most of these blocks don't look at all balanced to me.

 Block ten was another fairly simple block just more leaves.   I just put one stem to each cherry. The pattern has several stems to each cherry but they were embroidered.

 I like block eleven I  made the basket purple instead of green like in the directions.  I think my quilt has enough green with all those green leaves and stems  and this is my quilt so I feel it is alright to change what I don't like about the pattern.

These are my blocks so far.....not a great picture but you can get the idea.  I  have laid them out like the original so I could see where I needed certain colors.  Don't want another block three fiasco.

I would really like to catch up so I can  concentrate on just one block a month but the blocks I have let are a little challenging.  I have finished the vines on the grape block in the center but not all those bazillion circles and I see more fingers in blocks 12 and 13.

I have other projects I need to do this week so I won't be moving as fast on this one.

Happy stitching.

Nancy

Beyond the Cherry Trees Block Seven

I finished block seven of my Cherry Trees quilt last week.  If I seem to be in a rush it's because I started late and am a little behind.  Sometime it's good to be behind because you can see what everyone else has done and it helps you make fabric decisions.  You also get good tips on ways to applique'  your block.
If you would like to see this quilt in action check out the blog
Beyond the Cherry Trees.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful day...the day is beautiful here in Georgia.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone and welcome to all my new Followers.  I hope you find something to interest you here.  I look forward to all your comments.  I started blogging as a way of keeping a quilting journal and was surprised when I started getting followers and comments.  I have met so many wonderful people and learned so much by blogging and by reading other blogs.  The Quilting  community is full of  caring and sharing people.

From My Kitchen Window

This was the view from my kitchen window this morning.  The weather has warmed a bit and they are out looking for a snack. Just look at those faces.
If you click on the photos in my blog they will enlarge for a better view.

I have the applique Fever

Two More Lollypop's completed..... Just a couple more and I can put the center together.

Three Beyond the Cherry Tree's blocks completed....Just 19 more  (LOL!) on this one..

I think I need to take a break and do a little vacuuming around here.

Two More Lollypop's

I finally got back to working on my Lollypop Trees after the holidays.  I think this is the easiest applique'  I have ever done.  All the pieces are large and have gentle curves and large points.  Great quilt for  someone new to applique'. 
I have four of the large blocks left to do and then all the small one's.  This has been a fun quilt.


I also am working on the Beyond the Cherry Trees quilt and am finding it much more difficult after being spoiled by this one.  The pieces are much smaller and it takes a lot more time.

Beyond the Cherry Trees!

I believe the hardest part of any project is just starting. 
I finally got around to starting my Cherry Tree Quilt. It's called Beyond the Cherry Trees  by Sentimental Stitches.  
I have been collecting the patterns since the very beginning and really love this quilt.

I spent way too  much time trying to decide on a background fabric and then the other day I found this white fabric in my stash.  I bought it on clearance a few years back because it had a few spots on it.  I had so much of it I was able to cut around the spots----but 

once I started stitching on this background I didn't like it because it had too many little white leaves on top of the fabric and since this is a large quilt I decided to change.

I ordered some Kona cotton and really like it a lot better.

This is the first block.

There is also a Beyond the Cherry Tree blog where you can see all the great work everyone is doing on this quilt.
Looking back I am glad I did not check out the individual blocks too closely before starting.  I mostly just looked at the whole quilt and really liked it.  I think some of these blocks are going to prove to be a little difficult for me......I don't mind circles and there are lots of circles.....but all those little fingers and tiny outer curves in some of the blocks are going to prove to be a problem and I see lots of them.
Do any of you have any tips?
.

Florabunda Final Three

At last I have finished the final three blocks of the Florabunda Quilt.  There is still a large center block to do but I am putting it aside for the moment to work on other projects.
Erin at One Piece at a Time is starting another BOM.  If you like applique you should check it out.

Quilt Woes

I previously posted about this quilt and it's problems a while back.
Well, this is a sad enough by itself but the real problem is I just remembered I made my Liberated Amish quilt from the same black fabric.

I believe this fabric might have been from the 80s.  I had a whole bolt of it. Needless to say the rest of the bolt went in the trash.

One thing for sure I will  give black fabric a real good test before I use any of it again.

I think I will see if I can quilt NO WORDS and just use it as a wall hanging once in a while.  With a big label on the back to never ever wash it.

I wouldn't bother but this is the first Challenge I ever entered and my first Liberated Quilt.  I hate to lose it.

Bah Humbug!

I joined in on the fun over at UnRuly Quilting. A group blog for working on UnRuly Quilting projects and most especially UnRuly Letters started by Tonya Ricucci .  

She posted a challenge to make the letters Bah Humbug.  They will be for a Christmas quilt she is going to put together.

Well, I gave it a go.  I am not too sure about all this black.  

I was very limited on bug fabric but was able to  find a couple of  5" squares with ladybugs I could use. 

I wish someone would tell me why you don't see mistakes while you are sewing --  only when you step back and take a picture.

My last two letters are from the same fabric.  Did not really want to do that.

I love all the creative letters some of the girls are making.  Haven't figured out how to do those yet.

Happy New Year!

I received this from someone and laughed so much I just had to pass it on.



                            IT'S BEEN A ROUGH YEAR, BUT I MADE IT!

Wishing You and Yours a healthy and happy 2011!

I Joined GO-Ville

I really tried to win a GO on the blog giveaway's but no luck -  so I asked for one for Christmas.
Christmas afternoon while everyone was watching football I took it out to  see if I could figure out how to use it.

One of the extra dies I ordered is the Apple Core so I decided to make a scrappy Christmas apple core quilt.
After all it was Christmas.
Well,  the cutting was a lot of fun and I just kept cutting those apple cores until I ran out of scraps.

 All I can say is thank goodness I ran out of scraps!
The cutting may be easy and fun but sewing all those curves are not.

I tried pinning them together and didn't like sewing over all those pins - so I got out my trusty Elmer's school glue and tried gluing them together at the ends and centers.
I quickly got tired of that and went back to the pins because I think it was quicker.

Not one to give up I kept pinning and sewing and glueing and sewing.
I now have this great apple core quilt which I really like.
I am going to do a curved binding since I like sewing curves so much..

T-Shirt Quilt Ready for Christmas

Whew! I just finished the T-shirt quilt for my Husband's Christmas present.  I have been working on it off and on for a while.  Kept putting it aside thinking I had lots of time - only working on it when he wasn't at home.  I had planned on giving it to him in November for his Birthday but missed that deadline.

 I found this cute panel and fabric----- thought it would be perfect as a back.

A little history about my Husbands Airplane.. It's a World war II Bi-plane manufactured in 1943.

He has had it for several years and we have taken lot's of trips together in it. 

Last September when he was taking off for Galesburg, IL he had a little mishap as you can see.
Not to worry He wasn't hurt at all and is now busy rebuilding it.  Hopes to be finished by September so he can make the trip to Galesburg.

Design Wall Monday

I decided to put a little post on the Design wall Monday site Patchwork Times hosted by Judy Laquidara.

I have been working on Lollypop Trees by Kim McLean for a few months.

I finished nine of my Lollypop blocks and was really going strong until along came Thanksgiving, A trip out of town and now Christmas.  I hope to get back to it soon because I really love this quilt.  

Merry Christmas everyone.

Christmas Tree Skirt

I finished making my Daughter's Christmas Tree Skirt a couple of weeks ago but gave it to her without taking any pictures.
She sent me some pictures yesterday so I could post about it.  I am glad I forgot because she takes great pictures.

I used this pattern from Silver Thimble Quilt Co.   You  are supposed to us a 10 degree ruler to cut the slices but since I didn't have one I borrowed a 9 degree ruler from a friend.  Just  had to cut a few more slices.

I Asked Them to Stop!

Growing that is...Sometime I wish they could stay little forever.

                                        These are my beautiful Grandchildren.

Chloe is four and Garrett is twelve.

                                                      Lillian just turned one this month.

Time passes so quickly.  I know I am a little bit partial but don't they look cute with Santa?

Another Amazon Visit!

My friendly UPS man came today with more books.

Tonya Ricucci's first book Word Play Quilts arrived.  I have been looking forward to getting this book because I really like her quilts.  If you aren't familiar with Tonya's work you should check out her blog Lazy Gal Quilting.  Lots of great work there.

 And of course to get free shipping at Amazon you have to spend $25.00 - so I also got Stack the Deck Revisited by Karla Alexander.  Looked interesting.  Sometime I buy books just to dream and never get around to making any quilts in them.  Is there anyone else out there like me?

Help Needed!

A few Months back I made this quilt for my son-in-law.  He is a huge University of Georgia Bulldog fan.  The first time it was washed the black binding and inner border just shredded.  I guess the black fabric was rotten and I didn't notice.   Now replacing the binding is no problem but what in the world am I going to do about that inner border?

The quilt is machine quilted and I just don't know if it would work to just sew another piece of border fabric over the shredded one or not.  Any suggestions from all you quilters out there?

Christmas quilt

I finally finished my Christmas quilt for my bed.  

It's a Turning Twenty -  king sized or a turning 42.  

Looks a little puffy since I have a down comforter under it.

The fabrics are by Moda -  Figgy Pudding and Fruit Cake.

I bought them last year when they went on sale...not the traditional Christmas colors....  In fact my Husband didn't even know it was a christmas quilt maybe it's the brown pillows.
I really like how it turned out and hate to take it off the bed so soon.

Intown Sweet Divinity Give-Away

A couple of weeks ago  Intown Quilters in Atlanta had a give-away on their blog.

They wanted to know who your favorite designer was.

Of course my favorite designer at the moment is Kim McLean the maker of all the wonderful applique' patterns I have been doing.

I entered and was lucky enough to win this beautiful 

fat quarter pack by Riley Blake.

Thanks Sara!