Finish #11

It's been a minute since I've posted anything.

I think about it but that's as far as I get.

I'm hoping my blog break is over for a while.

I'll catch up in another post.

I worked on this Stars and Stripes Wall Hanging kit at retreat last month.

When I was getting ready to baste it, 

I notice that my stripes looked weird.

I had given away the instructions so 

back to Connecting Threads website I went in search of the kit.

It was still there so I took a picture of  it and got out my seam ripper.

(It's no longer on the website.)

It was all fixed good as new and I got it and another wall hanging basted.

In 2 days of little bits of quilting time,

I now have finish #11 of 20 Finishes Before 2020.

Now to figure out where to hang it.

I'm thinking in the trailer or the bus or the house.

LOL 

Next up is a cute basket wall hanging 

then a special new pink and purple quilt.

And then I plan to get caught up on my 2019 UFO Challenge. 

I'm only 4 behind. UGH!!

There is a plan.

The tops are all out, the backings are made or bought,

thread and designs are chosen and noted

and a new roll of batting at the ready.

Design Wall Monday

I've finally started quilting this month's 2019 UFO Challenge.

With the impending snow storm, will I have a chance to finish it?

We will soon see.

Of course there has to be a whoopsie.

Not really a whoopsie but I had quilting in there that I decided to take out.

So I cuddle up on the couch with spoiled rotten little dog to take out the stitching.

He loves to cuddle under the quilts.

He was a bit irritated with me when I moved the quilt.

He has a good stink eye!

So to make him happy again,

 I settled in with my basted quilt and we took a nap.

We are still staying with the kiddos in the mornings so I took a little projects.

I needed to pair my rectangles and mark the starting points.

In no time at all,

I had them all paired and marked and ready to sew.

I laughed at myself for all my tape marks. 

I have my main sew line, my bonus triangle sew line and my 1/4" line.

Made quick work of sewing my rectangles.

All these are sewed and pressed.

Even the bonus triangles that I have no clue what they will be used for.

Check out the great things happening at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday

It's been a busy week in the sewing room.

After finishing last month's UFO, 

I decided this beauty was next.

The binding is sewn down and 

it will soon be headed to a special girl in Texas.

Shhh, she doesn't know it's coming.

Finish #4 for my goal of 20 Finishes Before 2020.

Next up is Sanctuary from Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Beauties book.

It was started in May 2013 at a retreat.

It's done with flannel from strip swaps with friends.

At the next retreat, I won 5 yards of red flannel that was used for the border, back and binding.

There is a small piece left that will be cut up into more strips for the flannel box.

WaaHoo for Finish #5!

Trying to get a picture of this was a joke.

Daisy dog plopped herself right down and

Tony had to come and show how to sit pretty.

Little Dog took over the middle of the dog bed.

Saturday morning, trying to be quiet and clean up my messy binding box,

I started sewing the leftover binding hunks together.

After sewing 7 or 8, I realized there was no top thread.

Duh!!! So I put some thread on, threaded the machine and started again

only to realize the bobbin was empty!

While stitching down binding on the Dresden Plates quilt, 

I discovered where I had run out of bobbin thread.

7 Inches from the end and I didn't even notice!!

Joke's on me I guess.

So now I have my binding box nice and neat again.

I like having the black bindings all together.

The red on the right is all the same fabric. 

My heart sings at all those leftover pieces. 

I can't wait to use them.

The others are for specific projects and each are labeled.

This is why so much quilting is happening.

I'm perfectly content to stay inside and 

make pretties happen while we wait for round 2 of this "5 part weather event".

Check out the fabulous design walls at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Another January UFO Report

WhooHoo! Quilting is finished, binding is on.

I'll stitch it down in the evenings while watching tv.

I'm going to call this one a finish.

I'm not the best free motion or straight line walking foot quilter

 but I'm not the worst.

I have fun.

I'm a firm believer in Done is Better than Perfect!

Life's to short to be a perfectionist.

Last night I laid the quilt down on the floor to see if I really should 

quilt in the black half square triangles.

After the quilt inspectors report, 

I decided I should.

This was started in my first Bonnie Hunter class in June of 2014.

When the top was finished, 

it went straight onto Mt ToBeQuilted

where it marinated for a few years.

This will be sent off to a special girl as soon as it takes a trip through the washer and dryer.

I love sending quilts to my special people.

Since this is our day,

I'm going to go in a start quilting another one for a different special girl. 

Design Wall Monday

Quilting Mojo has arrived at my house.

I hope she stays for a while.

After finishing the Gypsy Rose Quilt last week,

I basted 3 more big quilts.

Then I went right in and started quilting.

Cathedral Stars was last month's UFO Challenge quilt.

After ignoring it all month, I got it basted on the 31st so I could report that I made progress on it.

Yes, I really did do that! 😉

I'm doing free motion curves in the star points and half square triangles.

I'm using the walking foot for somewhat straight lines thru the 4 patches.

I'm hoping today this one will be ready for binding.

Tony and Daisy kept me company from the table fort.

Kids and dogs love a good table fort. 

Little dog is cozy on dad's lap.

I really think they are sad when the tables are put away.

Check out the cuteness and the fabulous design walls at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday

I am on a (slow) roll!

This is finish #3 for me this year.

I am on a mission to quilt at least 32 quilts this year.

I have my UFO Challenge list from Judy L's challenge up in a tab.

I must confess that so far no action has been taken on January's quilt 

other than to get it out of the bin,

choose the backing and buy the thread.

I'm hoping to baste today.

I have a plan of 20 Finishes before 2020 that does not include the Challenge list.

Seriously, I need to not even look at a new project for a while.

I wrangled the UFOs and will not confess the number because it is shameful.

I am very embarrassed to admit how many I actually have. 

Maybe one day but not today.

So this gem is almost complete.

(I  didn't note the book the pattern is from.

I know I still have it in my stash of strip pattern books.)

There is only one more side of the binding to stitch down.

That will happen sometime today.

Then it's a trip through the washer and dryer and 

into the mail to our oldest.

Notice in the upper left corner my glove.

I use gloves even with the walking foot.

It sure helps my arthritic hands not to hurt so much.

I won this jelly roll in 2009 from Sue Hecker.

(Check out her beautiful sewing room.)

It's called Gypsy Rose by Fig Tree.

When our oldest was young, her horse's name was Gypsy Rose.

How could this not go to her.

 I feel so guilty that she has not had it for all these years.

But she will have it soon so no more guilt.

I love being able to surprise people with packages in the mail.

I'm hoping to get good outdoor pictures today.

Of course there has to be a problem with all UFOs.

The binding was cut and with this quilt.

As were the extra fabrics from the jelly roll but nothing from the binding fabric.

No big deal, just pick another piece of fabric and make it work.

Here's a little cutie from 7 year old Corbin.

The kids love word search puzzles.

Corbin is working on his the other morning with his dinosaur watching.

As that thing moves it's head and growls,

I asked if Dino was helping find words.

Without looking up or thinking at all, he says

"No, he's thinking about cupcakes ."

Check out all the great projects at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday. 

Have a great week.

Design Wall Monday

I sewed this week!

Not a bunch but I sewed and accomplished something.

This is block 2 for Fun On the Farm by Eleanor Burns.

I love Dresden plates!

I loved doing free motion applique on the leaves and stems. 

Now I want to do a project with lots of free motion applique!

Oh dear, is that a squirrel I see?

This is called Mini Birds.

This is a free tutorial and download by Connie Kresin Campbell

of Free Motion by the River.

Connie has lots of great tutorials.

I love matchstick quilting on small quilts.

I have several of these kitted up ready to sew.

Then a cute little 6 years old asks

"Gramma can you make me this owl? I got a book for you."

Of course I can.

So Mr. Owl became my focus.

And he's so cute. 

I can't wait to give it to him tomorrow.

See what others are working on at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday on Sunday Night

Last week was a super busy, fun week at the beach. 

We cane home Wednesday and after catching up with everything,

I started quilting the Deli Geese Nickel Quilt, 

which is my May UFO.

After stabilizing everything with the walking foot,

I switched over to free motion quilting.

I'm working on my curves.

I have a long way to go. LOL 

This precious babe is my great niece Timberley.

I delivered her quilt to her the other day and got some serious baby cuddle time.

She is such a doll and so is her mom!

This clock is now decorating my sewing room.

Such a sweet birthday gift from our daughter DeeDee.

She knows me so well. 

This week we are headed back to the beach. 

I'll work on my quilt Monday but don't think I'll finish it before we leave.

I have a couple of cutting projects that I plan to work on getting kitted up this week.

I joined a charity quilting group at the beach but I won't be there when they meet this month.

I'd like to have 2 or 3 quilt tops ready when I am able to go.

Check out all the fabulousness at 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday

January's 2018 UFO Challenge quilt,

Stars and Strings is basted.

I'm quilting!

Walking foot Ultra Wavy Line Quilting!

This is an excellent tutorial at Better Off Thread.

It's really fun to do. 

Not all lines are perfectly spaced,

there are some wiggle wobbles in there

but I think perfection is highly overrated.

After a few hours of listening to Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts on YouTube,

I am about 3/4ths finished with the quilting.

I took a couple of breaks and by the time Ernie had dinner ready,

I was ready to be done for the day.

I'm so excited to have my mojo back.

Check out the cute cute doll quilt and all the links today at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

2:30 Monday afternoon....hubs didn't feel good so it was a quiet day at our house. He parked in his chair with his book and the remote and a quilt.  I went into the sewing room and TaaDaaa, finished quilting this quilt and the binding and label are on. I will stitch the binding in the evenings. I'm calling this a finish!

Design Wall Monday...

...And a couple of awesome finishes.

It's been a busy week.

My niece is expecting a baby girl in a few weeks and I need to make them a cuddle quilt.

I like my baby quilts to cover Momma and Baby.

Way back in 2013, I participated in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at SoScrappy blog.

I planned to make a row quilt and true to form, 

I got part way through the year and stopped,

and now I have a box of awesome 6" blocks. 

Then Bonnie writes a post about Getting Serious With Scrap Reduction.

She shows a picture of Dancing Dashes and that's all I needed to get this quilt started.

I grabbed some yellow polka dot for sashing and soft lavender for the corner stones.

I'm hoping to have this top together before Thursday.

Maybe I'll name this Dashing Dashes and Friends. 

Because Friday is Mystery Day!!

I finally pulled my fabrics for On Ringo Lake.

I don't have one single piece of fabric in Bonnie's main colors so I went stash diving.

Red, Blue, Black and Creamy Neutrals

Depending on the clues and sizes of pieces needed, 

I'll pull from my strip bins and deeper into the stash.

Granddaughter Taylor will turn 18 in a few days.

She had hinted about a quilt with black, white and aqua. 

How could I say no.

I knew Bonnie's Scrappy Trips was a perfect design.

This is found on the Quiltville free patterns page.

Fun strips were pulled from the black and white strip bin.

Most of them were from strip swaps at retreats.

I had a blast quilting this.

Somewhat straight lines in a random pattern.

I used gray thread and my walking foot.

Finally En Provence is finished!

These photos are from Jane right after she quilted it for me.

We decided soft yellow thread would be perfect.

The panto is called Lovely by My Creative Stitches.

And Lovely it is!

I used bright pink for the binding. 

It's been dark, gloomy and wet here so no full on pictures.

Check out Design Wall  Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.