Busy Hands

It's that time of year when I am busy finishing up Christmas gifts.  I've put everything else on hold.  I'm not working on any of my sew alongs.  Putting these projects up and saving monthly patterns.  Time to get my hands busy.

We did take some time off the other day and went for a ride up the Lake Huron side of Michigan.  We ended up in Lexington.  This is a picture of the docks.

It was such a beautiful day.

Back home and back to work.  A few finishes.

This one is for me.  It is for my 12" quilt stand.  I can keep it up all through November.

A Christmas gift.  It is 5" x 20".

Another Christmas gift.  It is 36" x 42" and is made from Jelly Rolls.  It went really quickly.  I quilted it using a serpentine stitch.  This is my favorite go to stitch.  I am working on second one.  It will be 54" x 60".  The plus signs are in solid colors and the 4 corners on the blocks are gray prints.  I'm a little over half way done with these blocks.  Can't wait to show it to you.

Now don't forget about the giveaway I am hosting.

One of my followers will be receiving a copy.  Please enter on the original post here.  I have received comments from no comment bloggers.  They are Google+ followers.  Be sure to put your email in your comment so I can contact you if you win.  Good luck.

Hugs, Cathy

A Giveaway

 I tested blocks for Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 14.  Through out the year they sent me approx. 12 different blocks to test.  As a thank you they sent me 2 copies of the magazine.  One for me and one for you.

First I'm going to show you the blocks I tested and then I'll tell you how you can win a copy.

Block #1313

Daisy's Meadow

By Margie Ullery

Block 1318

Runway

By Cynthia Brunz

Block 1328

Betties Bikini

By Jennifer Ofenstein

Block 1330

Flywheel

By Tricia Patterson

Block 1334

Color Swatches

By Janina Van Harberden

Block 1335

Solid Stacks

By Jackie White

Block 1339

Celebration Star

By Abigail Dolinger

Block 1359

Conduit

By Janice Averill

Block 1386

Amethyst

By Deb McDonald

Block 1400

Star Route

By Anne Wiens

I wasn't able to test the last 2 blocks because of the eye problems I was experiencing.  

If you would like to win a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 14 leave a comment telling me how you follow my blog and which of the blocks I made is your favorite.  It's that easy.  You have until next Tuesday November 15th and I will post the winner on Wednesday the 16th.  Please be sure to leave your comment on this post.

Hugs, Cathy

Front Porch

Time for another reveal.

I finished the bird block and sewed it to the watermelon block.

Then I made the basket and stars strip....

...and attached it to the bird house block.

Now I have a completed bottom third of the quilt finished.

The photo looks wonky because my husband was holding it at the bird house.  It was too big to put on my design wall.  I'm linking up with Lori at Humble Quilts.

Hugs, Cathy

Finally

I finally finished my Traditional Gwennie Round Robin.  I so loved all the quilts and admired the final borders.  I don't mind saying the theme "Something Fishy" threw me for a loop.  An idea came to me right away for my Modern Gwennie.  But when it came to my Traditional Gweenie I was in the weeds.

I loved the "Clam Shell" idea that I saw on many quilts.  But didn't have time to applique them.  Suddenly and idea struck....   A while back I had cut out some Drunkard's Path blocks all in different shades of blue.  Sewn together in the right way they looked like Clam Shells.

Here is the result.  I like it more than I thought.  The border still lets the eye focus on the center of the quilt.  

Here is my Modern Gwennie.  I already posted a photo of it.

Again many thanks to Lori for setting up this wonderful sew along and letting me apart of the Fab Five design team.

While I had my thinking cap on I finished a WIP I had started a while ago.  It used up all the 9 patch blocks I received from a swap that Barb hosted a while back.

Now I just have to sandwich it and machine quilt it and I will have a finish.  It's been a while.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you are all enjoying the fall weather.  I hope our friends along the Atlantic Coast are safe and dry and have had minimal damage.

Hugs, Cathy

Gwennie Finale

Well sort of....

This is my modern Gwennie Medallion quilt.  This is the only thing that I worked on during the month of September.  I was unable to work on my Traditional quilt due to the eye problems I had for the last 4 weeks.  I am finally pain free..woo hoo.  So I'm hoping to get to it this month.

This has been such a wonderful experience.  I want to thank Lori for asking me to be apart of this Sew Along.  I had fun picking out the theme for round 3.
I hope everyone else enjoyed the Sew Along.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy

Sept. Front Porch

I can't believe it already is at the end of September.  Time is flying by so fast.

Our mission for the month was to make the 3 flower blocks.  So here we go.

I decided to add the blocks to a previous block where I could.  I also didn't like the fabric block so I made a basket.

I am really loving how this is looking.

Again...not a fan of the fabric block so I made a pieced block.  


I'm glad we had a bit more time to work on these....I needed it.  Remember I had surgery to remove some skin tags.  Well, they had to shave some eyelashes.  That is starting to cause problems.  I went to my regular Dr. thinking I had an eye infection...not.  So I went to the eye Dr.  I had 3 eye lashes growing the wrong way and they were irritating my eye.  The Dr. removed them.  Said It should feel better in a few days.  But it's not.  So it is back to the surgeon to see what he can see.  This has been going on for so long.  I haven't been able to do much sewing because I have to rest my eye.

On a better note.  We went to the Upper Peninsula for a week to visit my son, daughter-in-law and my hockey playing granddaughter.  It rained most of the time but we finally got a sunny day so we had a picnic at a park along Lake Superior.  I wanted to take pictures but the battery in my camera died.  It's rechargeable while in the camera but I forgot the cord.  Anyway it was a great time.

When we got home we had a few days to relax and then we were off to my daughter Kelley's house to house, dog and granddaughter sit.  Kelley and her husband went to Las Vegas with my other daughter Kim and her husband.  It's Kelley's 15 year anniversary.  And they go every September to celebrate.  We went with them one year.  They are due home tomorrow.  And then I'll be able to relax.

Our granddaughter (the baseball player) is no problem.  But their dog....

Their dog is Bear and our dog is Sammie.  They play, run around the house, bark and get very jealous over toys and humans.  But they truly love each other.

After a week they are getting a little tired of each other.

I can't wait to see every ones blocks and see what we are going to be working on next.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy

Gwennie Round 4

Round 4's theme was "Stars".

First up is my Traditional Gwennie Medallion Round Robin.  I chose friendship stars because I wanted to celebrate the friendships that came about being a member of the Fab 5 that has chosen the themes.    I'm hoping to do some applique in the blank fabric.  I'm in a time crunch so it has to wait till later.  

Here is my more Modern Gwennie Medallion.  I just chose to do stars across the top of the quilt.  Sawtooth stars are a favorite.

Wendy has chosen the theme for the next and final round.

She is from Maine and has chose the theme "Something Fishy".  She has given some great ideas.  Clam shells, scallops, fish fabric, sea birds, Marine animals, boats and ovals & triangles just to name a few and to get your design juices going.

This has been such a great sew along.  I am so proud to have been a part of it.  I hope you have enjoyed the themes we have come up with.  I look forward to seeing every one's quilts.  

Linking up with Lori.

Hugs, Cathy