Chunky Churndashes for the Grandtwins!

I finished the Chunky Churndash quilt tops for the grandtwins tonight. They will be getting other quilts later, but these are flannel and warm, and I should have them quilted by next week, so these will be ready when they arrive. This top one with the purple background is for Serenity.

Here is the one for Lucius. I was using these blocks I had already made on my flannel busting spree, but I tried to make them look a little alike by using the striped sashing and borders. Their next quilts will be in the samurai/geisha theme of the nursery, and they'll be a bit larger. These quilts are just a couple of warm ones to get them through winter. (As wintery as southern AZ gets, anyway) The pattern for the Chunky Churndashes can be found at www.quiltville.com. Bonnie K Hunter is very generous with her patterns.

I did get a few HST's done for step 2 of the RRCB mystery quilt. I finished maybe 1/4 of them, or a little more. I am so glad I used the Accuquilt cutter to cut the HST's. No dog ears to trim off, and they are going together so easily! I'm doing the mystery quilt as leaders and enders while I try to get some other projects together. Now that these two quilt tops are together, I'll go back to some others I left in some stage of assembly. I think I have three quilt tops in rows, and another that just needs borders. If I can get those to at least completed top stage, I'll be doing the happy dance for sure ;-)

Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll Step 1

I just cannot resist a Bonnie Hunter Mystery! I've only missed one since I started following her a few years ago. This newest mystery is called, as the title of this post indicates, Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll (which shall hereafter be referred to as RRCB which is much shorter to type ;-) I switched up all the colors, but I did get step one finished, and step 2 is cut. I am babysitting four full days this weeks, so not too much sewing time, but I'm figuring I will get step 2 done before step 3 comes out on Friday. Thankfully, I had the correct die for my Accuquilt cutter for step 2, so it didn't take long at all to get it all cut.

Since any of you who read this blog with any regularity know I never work on just one thing, I am also working on quilts for the grandtwins, these are the smaller flannel quilts they are getting. The center of Serenity's is almost done, and I have the rows of Lucius' assembled. I have a stack of stuff to make for the grandtwins, and the only thing I have made is some burp rags. I keep telling them to stay inside Mommy because Nana is not ready! Of course, I am also working on a couple of secret Christmas projects too.

I thought I would get quite a bit of time to sew over the weekend, since there were leftovers to eat, but as I was working on my Christmas surprise, my walking foot broke :-( I called all over town, and no one had one in stock. I even went to one place because they said they had one that might work. I told them I needed a high shank foot, and what they showed me was not a standard foot at all. My Juki can use Janome high shank feet, but this was something I've not seen before. It wouldn't have fit any of my machines, and they all take different feet. I ordered TWO new Janome walking feet online so I'd have a spare. My Christmas projects are on hold until the new walking feet get here. I did finish one project, with the guide duct taped to the original Juki walking foot. I really dislike the Juki walking foot. It is extremely noisy and cheap, and no place for a quilting guide to be attached. Of course, it was a Janome walking foot that broke, so I don't know what that says for it either. My Bernina walking foot is my favorite, and I have walking feet for all my machines, but of course, it only fits my Bernina, and I can't work on this project on the Bernina. Well, I could, but I'm not going to. It would be a nightmare! I paid for quick shipping, so the new feet should be here before I actually have a day off of babysitting.

Last week was CRAZY! The finishing touches were done to the remodeled bathroom. DD#3 and DSIL moved in on Wednesday. On Thursday I had 24? people here for Thanksgiving dinner. We found out that DS the Elder will probably be moving to Texas, and that will mean DD#2 will be moving back in temporarily (they share an apartment right now) It was a fun week, it was exciting, and it was nuts!

Autumn Strings Done

Here is my autumn string quilt. I hadn't planned on keeping it when I started it, but I like it too much to give it away. It's a good size to use when watching TV or reading. I did all the stitching-in-the-ditch yesterday, and the other quilting today.

I'm not sure how well you can see it, but I used a leaf stencil in the border. I used Dritz chalk to mark it, and had no problems getting it out in the wash.

In each block I traced a leaf cookie cutter, I had an oak leaf and a maple leaf. I've almost gotten rid of my cookie cutters multiple times, now I only keep them because of quilting.

I wanted to mark all 56 blocks at the same time, and I was afraid the chalk would rub off, so I tried using Crayola Washable Markers to mark the quilt. I have heard several quilters say they use them all the time, and they wash out fine. Since I was keeping this quilt, I figured I'd try it. I used a brown marker to trace the leaves, and I did that yesterday. I finished quilting the quilt today, got it bound and washed it, and the marker came out just fine, no traces of it at all. I wanted to be extra sure it would come out, so after the washer filled with water, I let it soak for 15 minutes before running the cycle. I figured the longer it sat, the water soluble ink should have more time to come out. I checked carefully when the washer was done to make sure the marks were out before I dried it. So, my personal experience was that the washable marker came out fine. I did try to finish ASAP, because I figured the longer it sat on the quilt, the more likely I was to have problems getting it out. I don't know if the soaking or the short time it was on the quilt had any effect on things or not, but that is what I did with good results. I won't hesitate to use the washable markers again.

This is my 12th finish since October 11th, and the last of my pile of quilt tops. I have a couple quilt tops almost done, but I've been on such a quilting spree I've done hardly any piecing. I have just over a month before Christmas, so maybe I can get those stockings done after all.

Swing Your Partner DONE!

I started this quilt in March 2009, but today, it is finished! I took the photos when it was all warm and crinkly from the dryer. DS the Younger is asleep, and DH is not home from work yet, so no quilt holders, therefore the couch had to step up.

I quilted fans in each block, and I used a stencil in the sashing. It was my first try using a stencil, and I liked it.

I meandered in the borders, because I wanted to use a pattern where I could avoid stitching the pockets in the borders closed. I wanted the pockets usable. Who knows what treasures may end up in those pockets, remote controls, little toys, only time will tell! All but the sashing and inner border are men's shirts recycled into a quilt.

I've already started quilting the next quilt, all the stitch in the ditch on that one is finished. I am going to trace some cookie cutters in each block, and use a stencil for the border. I think one full day of quilting will finish that one, but there is a lot going on so it is more likely to be two half days of quilting. I'll post a photo whenever I finish the next one.

New Mystery Quilt

Bonnie Hunter is doing a new mystery quilt starting on Friday, November 19th. The mystery is called Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll, and it can be found at www.quiltville.com Yes, I still have several projects in the works, but I am at least going to start this mystery quilt. I am hoping to at least keep up on the cutting, and maybe sew up some units, but I really have no hope of keeping up, and I'm OK with that. If I can keep up with the cutting, I will at least have a nice kit to work on next year, when quilting time will be at a premium. I'm not using Bonnie's colors at all, from left to right there is a butter yellow, sage green, peach, lilac and blue. The blues will be my neutral, so this quilt will have a blue background.

I have used a lot of sage green and purples in the last year, so I bought a few small pieces of those, plus some peach since I had only a couple peach pieces at all in the stash. The largest piece of fabric I purchased was a 1/2 yard, but that was only because there was sale and half yards were the same price as fat quarters. I didn't buy any blue and I had the yellow. All in all, this quilt will probably be 70% from stash. I would imagine I will end up supplementing these piles with strips from my strip drawers, but until I know which colors need which sizes, I can't look in those. Bonnie said we'd need some neutral strings, and I have a lot of blue strings all set aside, so no problem there.

I have been wanting to use an unusual choice for a background color, and when I was thinking of who would likely end up with this quilt, I decided blue was a good choice. I think that no matter how many blue quilts I make, I will never run out of blue.

I can definitely tell I've done a lot of quilting lately. Piecing backings have made noticeable spaces on my fabric shelves. That's a very good thing as I have to move all the scrub fabrics into the sewing room. Some of those fabrics will end up under my bed in underbed storage containers, but I will fit more than I originally thought on the shelves in the sewing room.

As far as other things go, I am almost done quilting anther quilt. If I quit playing on the computer, I might be able to finish the quilting tonight. One more quilt is pin-basted, and it should take no more than two days to quilt.

We bought a new shed and DH got it up this weekend. We had a shed once upon a time, but it was falling apart and had no doors, so we tore it down a while back. We had actually gotten rid of so much stuff we didn't need a shed, but with DD#3, DSIL and twins moving in, we need storage space again. How I miss having a garage!

Work on the bathroom is coming along, slowly but surely. I have walls now! Looking at freshly installed drywall is much nicer than looking at studs. We're in the middle of a few days of taping and mudding the walls. Drying time wastes a lot of time at this point. I was told that the room will be ready for paint on Thursday, and DH will do that. After the room is painted, the other fixtures can be installed.

Ah, DD#2 just arrived and needs Mom time, so maybe that quilt will get finished tomorrow ;-)