A Little of This

And a little of that.  I've been working on a few different projects.


First up my Sally Post blocks.

This is block #7.  I am presently working on #8 and have blocks #9 and #10 prepped and ready to go.


If you remember I started working on the first block of FQ Shop's BOM.  I liked the block so much that I decided to make a quilt with just this block.  I think the block is called the Friendship block.  Well...that's what I am going to call it. I started making the blocks from a layer cake I had ordered from Connecting Threads.

I now have 8 blocks finished.  I decided to do negative and positive blocks.  I sat down at EQ7 and drew up the quilt I'd like to make.  It will be a large quilt and will have sashing with corner stones.  I purchased extra yardage for the sashing, borders and binding.  Then I started thinking that the layer cakes wouldn't be enough for the number of blocks I need to make.  I need to make 182 blocks.  So I went back to Connecting Threads to see if they still had some pre-cuts.   Yes they did.  So I ordered a FQ Bundle.  These blocks are only 5" so I'm sure that will be enough fabric.

I finished 2 of the blocks shown above this morning.

A while back I made up a bunch of small design boards.  They work out great for blocks 6" or smaller.  So after I sewed up the blocks this morning I prepped 4 more blocks.  This way when I get a few extra moments I have blocks cut and ready for sewing.

I went through my quilt tops (which are numerous) and pulled out 2 tops to get ready to pin baste.  I still have to quilt my Westering Women quilt top.  It is already basted.  My goal this year is to get as many tops finished this year as I can.

We have had such gloomy weather lately and snow.  But for the last 2 days the sun has come out and it is cold but beautiful.  The sun chases away the winter blahs.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great day.

Hugs, Cathy

Woo Hoo!

Another one bites the dust.  I finished the 3rd of 4 quilts.  This quilt is made up of 9 patches I received in a swap hosted by Barb at "Fun with Barb"  I received the blocks in 2015.  Played around with them for a year...yes a year.  Finally came up with a layout and put the blocks together in 2016.

And Waa Laa....we have another finish.  Not sure if I will be able to get the 4th quilt finished before the end of the month...but if not I will put it on next month's projects.  The idea being this is going to be a stress less year.


I am planning on working on my Sally Post blocks till I get them all finished. This has been an ongoing project for a few years.  It needs to be finished.

These two blocks were repeats as the originals were used in another quilt.  I have one more prepped and 4 more ready to be prepped.  I'm getting excited about these.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Wishing you a very productive weekend.

Hugs, Cathy

Number 2 of 4 Done

I spent the morning quilting up quilt #2.  

I made this quilt top sometime last year.  Lots of plaids, gold and black fabrics. I quilted it on the diagonal and got the binding sewn this afternoon.  Happy to have the second quilt done.  2 more to go.

I finished the 5th block for Pat Sloan's Solstice Sew Along.

Another 20 blocks to go.



I saw the first block for FQ Shop's new BOM.  I fell in love with the block.  I'm probably not doing the entire quilt.

I started making the blocks using a Layer Cake I got from Connecting Threads.  I liked the block so much that I decided to do a whole quilt using this block.  I am going to have to make a lot of blocks since they are 5".  I checked Connecting Threads  and was excited that they still had yardage to match my Layer Cake.  I ordered enough for sashing, border and binding.  No rush to finish.  I'm taking everything low and slow and enjoying it.


Another project I wanted to work on is my Sally Post quilt.  I had finished 8 blocks once upon a time.  Then when working on my Ohio Sampler quilt I used 4 of the blocks.  Now I need to redo those blocks.

Here is the remake of block #3.  I have 3 more blocks prepped and will work on them in the evening while watching TV.

I'm so glad I made the decision to slow down and enjoy the process.  The only Sew Along I am doing is Pat Sloan's Solstice quilt.  Other than that I'm trying to finish up so long going projects and get some very old quilt tops quilted.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great week.

Hugs, Cathy

One Down...3 To Go

Earlier in the week I got 4 quilts pin basted and ready to quilt.  One is a wall hanging, two are table quilts and the last is my Westering Women quilt.  I started with the smallest quilt.

Here is my Patriotic Sampler.  It consists of Swap blocks and orphan blocks.  The quilt top was finished years ago just waiting to be finished.  It feels good to finally have finished it.

So Monday and Tuesday was spent pin basting quilts.  Wednesday we went for a walk at Lake St. Clair Metro Park.  It was overcast and cool walking by the lake. 
The canal was frozen with lots of water on top of the ice.

I love the reflection of the houses on the other side of the canal.

The ice has captured all the falling leaves from the fall.

Today I am planning on getting some misc blocks done.  I have the latest block to test sew for Quiltmaker Magazine.   And maybe I will try and get another walk in at the park.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy

Westering Women and more

Last week I put my Westering Women blocks together.  This quilt will be my husband's quilt so I let him choose the borders.

I'm happy with the way this turned out.  Now I need to decide on a backing and then I can machine quilt it.  This was #1 on my UFO list for 2017.  So glad to cross it off my list.

I finished Blocks 3 and 4 for Pat Sloan's Solstice Sew Along.

Block 3

Block 4

These have been fairly easy blocks to make.  I hope it continues.

2016 was a fairly stressful year for our family.  I was hoping 2017 would be better....but so far that has not been the case.  I decided that this year I would not be joining any sew alongs or BOM's.  I decided to join one sew along and already started stressing over time constraints and fabric.  Not what I need.  So I will not be joining in with Lori and Karen doing another Jan Patek quilt.  I will eventually make this quilt but not right now.

I'm sticking with the original plan.  Finish up some UFO's, not buying any fabric this year, and keep it relaxing. 

So here's to a relaxing New Year and getting some quilts made.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy

It's Been a While

Christmas was gone in a blur.  However we were surprised by son, Patrick, who lives in the Upper Peninsula.  He and his wife and my Granddaughter, Ashley, came down for Christmas for the first time in 14 years.  Pat always wanted Ashley to celebrate Christmas in her own home.  Now that she is 15 and not a Santa believer they came down.  It was great.

The New Year came in with a cold blast of air and a head cold.  It's still hanging on but it's not so bad.  It hasn't stopped me from sewing.

I started Pat Sloan's Solstice BOM.  Here are the first 2 blocks.  I had a FQ bundle from Boundless that I decided to use.

No New Year's Resolutions this year.  But I do plan on finishing up some projects from last year.  I made a list of 10 UFOs and the first one up is Barbara Brackman's Westering Women.  I had finished the first 6 blocks.  I just finished the last 6.  Today I'm going start sewing them all together.

I made the Ivy block instead of the Lily block.  The the block above...well I don't know what happened.  I messed up on the piecing...but I like the way it turned out.  

I'm trying to take things easy and not put as much presser on myself as I usually do.  This last year was not the best for us.  I had too many health issues and am working on resolving them.

My husbands parents are not doing well.  Dad has Alzheimers and is slowly declining.  He knows who we are but he is living in the past.  Mom is a nervous wreck.  My brother-in-law lives with them but he is not the best care giver.  They live about an hour away and my husband is spending at least 4 days a week up there.  Sorry to vent.  We are hoping this year will be much better.

So I'm off to my sewing room to work on Westering Women.  Hopefully I will have a quilt top to show you later this month.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy

Busy

I haven't posted as much as I wanted because I've been busy.

I got the Plus Quilt machine quilted and bound.  Another Christmas gift finished.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  I know the recipient will love it.  The backing and binding are gray.

A charm square Table Runner.  Another Christmas gift.

My final project...

I just finished sewing the binding down.  I used the same blue for the backing and the binding.  It was machine quilted on the diagonal.

Now I only have 2 more table runners and ornaments to make.  I've not worked on any projects other than Christmas Projects.  I hope to finish soon so can work on Cathy projects.

I had some really good news.  I opened up my email early last week and was surprised to learn that I had won the Customer Loyalty Giveaway from CT Publishing.  I got to order $200 worth of merchandise.  I was thrilled.  I immediately shopped till I dropped and should get my winnings this week.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy