Big Brother..Little Brother

OK...i had to squeeze in one more quilting finish for the month. 

I call this Big Brother...Little Brother.  all the blocks are done with the embroidery machine... but the big brothers are applique and the little brothers are just stitched out.

It's 40x52"

The backgrounds of the blocks are some fabrics that i dyed long ago. I used the same dye over 3 or 4 times to get the graduated tones.

These were embroidered on September 9, 2014

And quilted today, February 28, 2015

Backing is something that was in the stash

Threads used...would you believe lime green in Glide for the top...and a So Fine brown for the bottom.

Now i feel better...i snuck in one more quilting finish for the month. now i am going to the house....check the wood in the wood stove...make some lunch....and watch the snow that is falling down....in really large flakes.

Blue and brown scrappy crossroads

More snow/ice days = another UFO pieced.  this is UFO#4...i had most of the 4 patches pieced together but the rest was just all the pieces cut out in a box.  i started piecing on February 25, 2015 and finished piecing February 28, 2015. I can't find a date of when i cut it all out. i think the title of that quilt was 'crossroads' something or other...but of course i don't have that info now. sigh!

Here is where i started...my usual picture tore out of a magazine

Lots of scrappy browns and blues

Sashings in each block match ... and all the sashings are the same fabric.

And center square in each block match the cornerstones in the sashings

The top is 58" x 70"...couch size

This is the 4th UFO finished in February....not bad. of course, that means 4 more added to the TBQ cabinet. i believe i am in the red on the quilting part....but i have finished 10 UFOs so far this year. and am actively working on 4 more of them. i'm getting there.

Aqua and Gray stripes

This has been marinating for a while...pieced August 9, 2012.  i barely remember it but it is now quilted....February 27, 2015.....and that is good.

You can't really see the quilting

But i love the color combo. I knew i wanted to put these fabrics together....but didn't want to take the time to design a block....so i opted for simple stripes and i think it worked ok...and it got those fabrics out of my stash.

The back was pieced .... using up the last of the fabrics

You can see the panto here stitched out

Here is panto i used

What it looks like 

Thread i used...top is Glide aqua....bobbin is So Fine light gray

Quilt is 58 x 80"...good couch size.  this is quilt #7 for February...not bad considering it is a short month and it was damn cold in the studio...mainly because i am too cheap to use the propane. haha

Mary's Stars

Now that i have delivered this one to the customer....i can show it here.

She wanted the zigzags to show .... and chose the feathers. and the SID around the stars and the line through the star segments. she wanted 'loose feathers' in the border. so i followed the feathery fern type thing in the border and just did large, loose feathers. 

The quilting doesn't show too much. i used a pinky salmon thread to see where i was going.

I followed the ferny thing with large, loose feathers

A more controlled feather in the zigzags

The stars were SID and then a line through the segments

Two sides had setting triangles and Mary chose simple arcs there

I really like the star quilting.

But where it really shines and shows is the back

I like the back best. haha

Glide on the top....a pinky salmon and So Fine on the bottom...sort of a beige

Yellow and brown strippy selvages

When the snow and ice won't go away ..... and you can't get to the studio....and you are desperate to sew SOMETHING.....an old project sitting at the house gets finished. 

I don't remember when i started piecing this....probably last year sometime....i know it's been months. they are 3" strips of yellow and brown selvages. with a 1" strip of blue between.

It is about 78x86". 

pics taken by dh with his phone. haha

i cut 3 1/2" strips of muslin about 18-20" long and that was the foundation for the selvages. then i trimmed them down to 3" wide. 

Now it is ready for quilting....someday.

Crazy Quilt I Spy

This was my second snow day project.

This also used up a lot of smaller pieces of novelty fabrics. They were stitched on the embroidery machine. every block is different.

I used a Christmas crazy quilt embroidery design set. i just stopped after the background pieces were stitched down and then moved to the stitching for the edges.

It is 43 x 50"

I started embroidering these some months ago and finished them February 14, 2015.

And they got pieced together on February 16, 2015

The blocks are 5" finished

I used each design 4 times....rotating it 90 degrees each time. that made the blocks look different and i didn't have to keep using a new design.

I'm using up a lot of my novelty fabrics so don't know how many more quilts there will be. i have lots of small pieces left...that might just wind up in crumb blocks. we'll see.

Crazy Quilt Alphabet

I had a snow day yesterday and stayed at the house. .... we got about 4" of snow....our first real accumulation of the winter. and it could be the last and it wouldn't hurt my feelings. 

Anyway, this is the first project that i took to the house for my snow day piecing. i had finished stitching these blocks on February 14, 2015 and pieced them together February 16, 2015.

It is 40" x 49"

The blocks are 6" finished

I sewed them on a foundation square and just fit them in however i could.

Each square has things that start with the same letter of the alphabet.

That finished up a lot of scrap novelty fabrics

I love the sashing and border fabric

I started these months ago and i am happy to have them finished. some of the blocks only had a few pictures.....it was hard to find something to go there and i was about out of novelties, so i did the best i could. i did not want to go buy more fabrics.

Now it will marinate in the TBQ cabinet for a while.