The Last and the First

Last quilt of 2019 to be the first finish of 2020?

I finished this top yesterday and will be searching for the backing today.  I'll be looking for binding fabric too, since I ran out of the fabrics in the border.  Oops!  If I could get a room to pin it up, it would be done by New Year's Eve; but as it is I can't get a room until January 2, so it will be the first finish of 2020.   This one is made from Civil War era and 1800's reproduction fabrics and is, therefore, one of my favorites.  It's 60" x 60".

It is entirely possible that I will have another finish before Tuesday.  I'm always finding random blocks and partially completed tops and if I find one that is 45" or less, I can pin it up at home and get it quilted before 2019 ends. 

In the meantime, make the most of 2019 because who knows what 2020 brings!  At the outset, however, I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Happy Kissmess!

 Hope you had a good Christmas or Hanukka!  I had a wonderful Christmas Eve day putting this quilt top together and then quilting it.  Finished quilting and binding it today.  Tomorrow I will start on another of those projects mentioned in my last post. 

Top ready for pinning and quilting, Christmas Eve 2019.

Christmas Eve and it's mostly quilted.  Finished it Christmas day.

Quilting in progress.  I really like using the Hera marker because it leaves no marks, just an indentation that you can easily follow.  There's my jar of safety pins, all of which were salvaged from dry cleaning over the years. 

This little quilt is only 39 x 39 and I love it!  Something about yellow always makes me happy and this is just cute as can be.  The backing is an equally pleasant yellow with pink roses.  It makes a great baby quilt, wall-hanging, or table throw. 

I have only six more days in the year to finish another project but I don't really care if I do or not.  If there's another finish, so be it.  If not, so be it.  If I'm not back before then, Happy New Year and have a healthy and prosperous 2020!!  xoxo

New Projects and Happy Holidays!

Four new projects in the works!

I don't even know if these projects have formal names but here they are and all are made from scraps.  (1--far left) a pinwheel for which I am still cutting and sewing -- have a long way to go on this, so it will probably be a 2020 finish.  (2--mid photo) I'm sure this block has a formal name but I don't know what it is and it doesn't matter to me presently.  This can be classified as a UFO because while looking for backing fabric for one of the 2019 finishes I came across a box of half-square triangles that I'd made for a Delectable Mountains quilt that I finished a couple of years ago.  I had enough for nine of these blocks and I will arrange them on-point with the delightful yellow print just under the blocks. I think this will be pretty and it will probably be finished next week as it will be small.  (3--top right) Another UFO I have been cutting and collecting scraps for this for since the turn of the century.  Is it Dresden Plate?  This, too, will take a while and will be a 2020 finish.  (4-- bottom right)  This is a true scrappy quilt consisting of strips of small scraps sewed together in bands.  I have been sewing these strips together for several years and finally have enough for a large quilt.  It's possible this could be finished before the new year.  Who knows.  In any case, sewing small scraps together to create new fabric is kind of an obsession with me, so this one will finish while a new one is being created.

Then let me say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukka, Fabulous Winter Solstice, Brilliant Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year!  Looking forward to finishing more projects and sharing them with you next year.  xoxo

Baskets!!

What?!  No stars?! 

This is another UFO that I have wanted to complete for a long, long time.  I made the top back in '94 and hung it on my kitchen wall.  Tuesday I took it down from the wall (believe it or not, I'd stapled it) and found a wonderful backing fabric in my stash.  Since it's only 46-1/2 x 60-1/2, I was able to pin it up on the table in my sewing room (not a perfect situation, but it worked).  Honestly, it was a bit gunky after twenty-five years on the kitchen wall, so first thing after sewing the last binding stitch, it went in the laundry and today it is hanging on the line outside drying in a nice late fall breeze; and it's CLEAN! 

I've been keeping the quilting simple on these pieces this year and this one is probably simpler than most of them.  The scrappiness of this quilt top is difficult to fully comprehend, as all the muslin seems to be the same color in this photo.  However, in person you can see all the different colors of muslin and it's a little distracting but that's the point of scrappy quilts, right?  A quilt is almost always more interesting to me when there is some little thing that pops out -- usually it's a bit of yellow (and this one has that, too).

Anyway, it's not stars!  There was a time back in the 90's when I was fascinated with basket patterns.  A lot of them are in samplers, but there are probably a half dozen or more full-size basket quilts resting in the quilt closet. 

I don't know if this will be the last finish of 2019; probably not.  I have four more unfinished tops hanging on walls including a 40" x 40" log cabin I made on January 17, 1994 -- the day of the big Northridge, California earthquake.  Lord knows why I was home that day instead of at work, but I remember watching the news reports on TV while sewing the blocks together.  It's one of the few quilts I have dated. 

So, stay tuned!  There might be one or two more finishes before the 31st!  xoxo