Donald Gets His Whale Quilt

And here's the finished quilt.

 And here is Donald Patric

 with 2 of his sisters

 and some of his friends.

 Of course, to get them all to look at the same time was difficult.  In fact, it didn't happen.

House Quilting

My quilt guild will have a picnic in June. To this picnic, we are all bringing house blocks. The only requirement is that they have to be 12 1/2 " unfinished. My goal is to make one each week. We'll have to see if that really happens. This is my first one. It's all fused appliqué. This is another good way to use up some of those scraps.

I tried some fancier stitching on parts of this block.

Red and White Squares

I had a productive couple of days.  Friday I got 2 squares sewn very easily.  I took and hour per square and no rip-outs.

I did the sizing on EQ and that made it easy to cut.  On all the squares for the half square triangles I add an eighth of an inch to the square and that makes it very nice to put together. It's better to go a little larger on triangles.

This first one is from a quilt called Country Charmer.

No tutorial so I figured it out as I went.

This one is Broken Dishes.  This did have a tutorial that I followed.

And Saturday I did this block.  There wasn't a tutorial for this one, so I winged it also. I got to half square happy and ended up ripping half of them out as I needed to use the triangles other places. So that slowed this one down and it's a tad small. But it'll work.

Another exciting thing we're doing some building around here.

I've been saving my money from my longarm quilting and it bought this.

And it's turning into this.

The floor 

 and a wall.

Now all the walls are up and Eloise is starting to enjoy the playhouse.

It's so exciting!!!

Whale Watchin' - Continued

I have this quilt mostly put together.  I have the border - playing in the sand.  After all, that's what you do when you're watching whales.

I did tiny zig-zags around the whales and all those circles..  You're seeing one of my better ones.

 This is probably one of the fastest quilts I've ever put together.

 These whales still need a little more work - eyes etc.  Maybe today that will happen.

Tulips are Here

I wanted to post a finish today, so this tablerunner that I bound yesterday is here, although as you can see, it definately needs to be blocked.  Oh, how ruffly!

 I pretty much copied this pin. 

 I really got some more experience with my quilting doing the lattice.  I had to mark it all, so that I knew which ones crossed and which didn't.  It was very fun  to do and the scribbling is very easy between the lattice.

Paula's Quilt

Kathy's Quilt

 This is a flannel quilt, front and back.  Good quality flannel, which means it was thick. So my needle did have some problems with thread breakage on the seams.  But I managed through it.

I did an allover of flowers.

A New Block - A New Quilt

  Yes, I'm starting a new quilt.  And Saturday I did the first block.  I've been collecting the fabric for a little while now, so I was ready to start.  It's from a picture I pinned on pinterest.  It will be pieced and applique.

Yes, I did make the center block too big, so I cut off the points, but this quilt is not for a show or anything that matters in that way, so I kept it instead of ripping out.  

I did take the flowery fabric out, and then put it back in.  I'm really glad I did.  It adds nice life to the block.

I want my blocks 12 1/2" unfinished and I found this one with a  tutorial, just the right size.  That made it easy.

Since I only have one picture of the block, I'll add some pictures of Eloise with friends.  It seems lately, we've had her friends over to our house quite a bit.  It is so fun to watch them interact together.

A Sweater for Sarah

 Way back when (it's been over 2 years) I made this sweater for my daughter.  It was so grand.  It fit and looked good on her.  I was graduating from baby sweaters.  

Now I've decided to make sweaters for all my daughters.  I'm starting with the in-laws.  Sarah is showing you the sweater I just finished for her.  It fits also and looks great on her.  Oh, how that makes me happy.

 Making an adult sweater can make me sweat some while I'm knitting it.  Let's say you sweat without burning very many calories.  Just wondering how it's going to fit.  You can't give it a proper fitting until it's been blocked.

 

 

The lace work was great fun.  Isn't it pretty?

I sized this sweater from another sweater of Sarah's that had a fit that she liked.  I just made sure that this was the same size.  I think the blocking process also gives place for a little slack in the knitting, because you shape the sweater to the size you want it. 

And the texture of the main body was a nice addition to the sweater.

 The pattern is Bamboozle Tunic by Sandi Rosner.  It is a free pattern.

I knitted with Swish Worsted by KnitPicks. It is a merino wool that is machine washable.  It is very soft and lovely to work with.

Ravelry Link

Is Spring Coming?

I'm sure ready for it. And I've really enjoyed seeing the buds start to come and even some daffodils here and there.

So I'm making a spring tablerunner - tulips.

 The applique is done and now I'm making quilting templates that I'm putting on the white.  Lattice.  I always liked the look of lattice.  I think it may be difficult to quilt, but I'm willing to take a chance.  At least I'll learn from it.

The Orchard and Cornfield

I took a break last week from my farm, but yesterday I was right back at it.  I made the cornfield. That field has a tree in the middle of it.  I used to play house out there.  Wherever there was a missing stalk that became a room in the house.  You'd have hallways to each room and sometimes I room might be big enough to be a grand room.

 

In front of the barn was our orchard.  I don't think I ever picked fruit from it.  I hope my parents did, but I don't remember much about it except it was there.  I do remember the peonies by the side of the driveway.  They were not staked up, but just hung over like small, lovely white bushes.  It amazed me that there would be nothing there in the winter, and then you'd have these lovely flowers.

 

 On our present property, my son ladi a new floor in my pergola.  The last one was pavers with grass inbetween and the moles really liked it.  This is more solid and should be really nice.  This pic is the first round which wasn't level.  He did it over again with sand and mesh and that is much better.   I think the chicken is an inspector.

 My husband made this cover as protection from rain and sprinklers.  Now we never have to move the cushions again.

The weather has been nicer the past couple of days, so my girls enjoyed their lunch break in the pergola.

 

And the first buds of spring.

 

 

Needle-turn Applique Tips

Yesterday I took a needle-turn applique class in my guild.  Of course, it was the day after I started a new applique project.  I sure learned some good tips that I can use on this project.

This is what I did at the class.  I still have to add the leaves.

We made the stem with a 1/4" bias tape maker and then I cut off one side of the fold. After I basted the stem in place, I appliqued the folded side down, and then needle-turned the other side so the stem is a beautiful 1/8" wide.

 

 This is my project at home that I'm doing.  When cutting the petals, I made sure the bias ran from point to the bottom.  It makes for a easy to do and nice tip.  I traced around the template and appliqued  the 2 pieces together.

 Then I appliqued the whole flower to my fabric.

 

Marj Horton was our instructor and she does marvelous work.