JANUARY FINISHES !!!

I'm happy to say that I finished all 4 of my projects for Charming Girls this month!

Below are my blocks for Old Red Barn's Quilt Along...Wild Circles.

I haven't made all the blocks as yet...still more instructions needed. These are just laid down randomly...I haven't cut my blank blocks yet or made all my string blocks...waiting to see what colors I need and where.I chose to paper piece a sunflower rather than have all circles.

Here is a close up of the first 4 blocks...pretty much as they will be in the finished quilt. I have to add the centers to the two bottom parts of the sunflowers...probably today. I just love these strings blocks! So much fun to sew, and I particularly like the design they formed below.

Here is the FINALLY finished Folk Anglel baby quilt!

Only TWELVE years in the making.

Here are close ups of the different sections.

I still need to embroider faces and other embellishment...I'll save that for a rainy day.

I did what I call a 'crazy micro stipple'!!!

My stippling is not the greatest...but this small ?stipple? doesn't look half bad!

I did complete all the quilting on this quilt, which is also from 1998 or 99.

I did cross hatching behind the applique in all the blocks.

Then I did a meandering with some leaf shapes in the outside border.

The sashing was similar but with a loopy loop with leaves.

I found this hard to quilt...in part because of the polyester batting...slips alot.

However, the weight of the quilt is great.

Also, after washing the 'wrinkle' isn't as nice as with 100% cotton batting.

The next quilt I sandwich together I am going to try the Heirloom 80/20 and see how I like that.

Finally, my last finish was easy peasy....the BOM was very simple to fuse and I used a buttonhole stitch around some of the design...but not the leaves, too small, I just did a straight stitch on the edges.

There is still hand embroidery to add...but that will come another day.

For now ... it's finished!

You can click to enlarge these pictures.

Thanks for stopping by.

January Projects for Charming Girls and 2 WINS!

This month I hope to quilt a rather large (for me) quilt. Approx. 66"X77". I started it as a BOM back in 1998, finished the top in 2002. I did outline the blocks and labeled and bound it...but it was always lacking the 'quilting'. In my pursuit of getting my UFO's done...I cross hatched the background of one of the blocks. Looks pretty good, even if I do so say myself. So I will continue with the other 11 blocks...and the sashings and border. This will be quite a project as the 'quilting' part is always the hardest for me. Above is a picture with the cross hatching and without it...quite a difference! You can click on the picture to get up close.

My 2nd project for CG is a free BOM that I just found...cute block. It is from http://ajpadilla.com/patterns/bom/simple-thymes and it has just started this month. Not too big of a project...24x24 I think. Angie's Bits and Pieces specializes in 'whimsy'...which I LOVE!

My 3rd project is to do the buttonhole stitch around my folk angel baby quilt, that I have had following me now for months...but if I can move along as I plan, I may even be able to quilt it.
I do have a 4th project...it will carry on for a month or so though. The Old Red Barn quilt along round 4....Circles and Curves. I need to pull my fabric (batiks) and make some of the crazy 9 patch blocks...maybe some strings too, if I have the time.......and energy.

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TWO GIVEAWAY WINS

I won 2 giveaways last month....would you bellieve it!!!

The first was from Charming Girls...I won a wonderful WHIMSY jellyroll. Thanks Kelly

The other win is from the Holly Jolly Blog Bingo at THE QUILT SHOPPE... and would you believe...the prize was a WHIMSY layer cake!!!! I just LOVE that fabric line...now to make something REALLY special with my precious winnings!!!

December Charming Girls UFO Finish...sort of

This is a promise....I will....yes I really will...sew the buttonhole stitch around all of the appliques in this quilt...it has been s l o w going, but it's nearing the end!