Hand pieced arcs

 You might remember that several years ago, someone left a few bags of fabric on the porch of my studio. I never did find out who did that. haha

I hung on to these little hand pieced arcs. I figured if someone went through all the trouble of sewing those together, I should do SOMETHING with them.

This was not exactly my vision for them....but it is what happened. haha

I put them around the corners of some muslin blocks. and covered the edges with bias tape. 

I had a few packs of bias tape in the stash....then found more at the thrift store....and even more on another trip.

So, they are all blue....just different shades of blue. 

And some single fold...some double fold...some something other than bias tape.

But, for a quarter a package, I was using them. haha

So, when joining the blocks together, since there were several versions of 'bias tape', they didn't all match up.

Well....**@#*.  not a problem.  Got out the AccuCut machine, fused some fabrics, and cut out some curvy tear drops

and fused them on the places that were off quite a bit.  There are a LOT of them if you look. haha

I had enough arcs to make 54 blocks, so I made 6 nine patches.  To make it a bit larger,

I added some muslin sashing. Then a 5" dark blue border.

So, this is what I got. It's not all that pretty.....but after quilting, will keep someone warm. 

And those little arcs got all used up. I don't know how old those fabrics were, but I'm guessing several decades.

Brenda's #6 ... Baskets

 This is my friend, Brenda's, quilt. It is for her sister. She does fabulous applique work.

I did the best quilting I could with eyes that don't see too good any more.

It is 70 x 86". Sid around baskets and in baskets

Feathers in an arc in setting triangles

Lines every 2 inches in borders.

SID around baskets and through sections of basket

SID around smaller brown borders

This is the back. It is a brown/orangey print. I used So Fine Orange in the bobbin.

Glide Chestnut on the top. 

It is the last Brenda quilt. 

Robin's K#3

 This one is truly a reuse, recycle, use it up quilt. haha

Scrappy blocks....pieced back....many strips of batting because my batting order is not here yet and i found a bunch of batting strips. black and white. haha

It has a couple of hearts...so whoever gets it feels loved. And a lot of St Louis Cardinals fabric that will mean absolutely nothing to them. haha

some flannel cats....another heart

Watermelon, monkeys. all that red fabric is about gone. I did large swirls across the blocks and fat, close wavy lines over the seams. trying to hold all those batting pieces together. haha

The back is part thrift store sheet....on the left and green stash fabric on the right. That left piece is more green in real life. I am having trouble matching anything with fabric I have left. 

Top thread is Glide Ruby; bobbin is Glide Jade.

One more to go....but have to wait on that batting order. I should have just gone and picked some up instead of online shopping. I order from Washington, MO....an hour and a half away......It ships from Washington state....what the hell....to Oregon....to Idaho....says it will be here Tuesday.  Looks like it is taking a road trip. haha

Robin's K#2

 This used up the last of the batiks. I used all the bits and pieces and pieced blocks until there were no bits and pieces left. 

Then I added brown, green, purple and tan blocks  from the stash to have enough.

Pretty much same as the last one....5" squares.....wavy lines through the block and over the seams.

Some of those blocks are wild....pieced with anything left over.

The back is a dark green sheet from the thrift store. I don't know if it's the camera or the operator, but I take lousy pics. haha

This one is 62 x 84".  Glide light olive for the top and Glide jade for the bobbin.

Now I have to piece backs for the other two....tomorrow's job.

Robin's K#1

My friend, Robin, works with a missionary to send quilts to poor people who live in and around the landfill in their country....above China.  I decided to quilt up a few and send them to her. A good use for using up my stash. 

I had a pile of batiks that i cut into 5" squares.....and then used a row of purple/gray in alternate rows. The last purple row was what was left. haha

I did wavy lines across the top....in the middle of the blocks and over the seam lines.

Several blocks were pieced....I used up all those batik pieces. haha

Back is a thrift store sheet.

Glide Sepia in the top and So Fine tan in the bobbin. 

This went really quickly and I now have the second one on the frame.

Brenda's #5....Snowman 2

 If this looks familiar, it's because Brenda made two of these. But, this one has less embellishments and is mainly cotton applique.

I tried to limit SID since my eyes are just not working for that.

But there was still a lot of going around things.

It is wider than it is tall. Not much background stitching at all

Cute snowmen all over the place

Curves around all the blocks...no SID

Check out this guy's ice skates.

Look at all those French knots around the angel wings.

Some CC in the border...and a single line through the extra dark partial borders.

Back was a blue. I used a navy thread but it doesn't show here.

Quilted with Glide Silver. 

I'm going to take a break from Brenda quilts and do one of mine now. haha

Dream Tree

 I am easily swayed. haha

I saw this pic in the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine, issue August 2015.

Isn't that cute?

And I thought...oh, that would use up a lot of stash. I've been working on using up all my fabrics.

Well, let me tell you...I spent days and days tracing and cutting and fusing hundreds and hundreds of little leaves and flowers and such.

And then....days and days cutting and piecing 4 patches and hour glass blocks and HSTs.

But, I persisted....remember....use that fabric up.

And...I got this.

If the pic looks weird...I'll confess....once I got it hung, I realized I had hung it sideways. No way was I taking it down and rehanging. haha  So, the pic just got turned. That's why you see the hangers on the left and the floor on the right. hahahahahaha

I don't believe I looked at the size of this before I started. haha  It is monster, king size HUGE...100" x 104". I hope it fits on my frame.

Once I got the inside piece fused down, I went ahead and quilted just that middle white part. I wanted to get those pieces sewn down so they stayed down. The middle part will be extra fluffy once I quilt the whole thing.

Once I got blocks put together, and pieces fused on, I stitched a few large stitches over every fused piece. I have trouble with my fusibles...they tend to come up and I sometimes lose pieces. As you can see, some of these are already coming loose. As I quilt it, it won't be a problem to pull out the thread that is holding the piece down as I get to it to quilt it. I knew wrestling this monster top would cause some of them to come loose.

I didn't have bias tape, so i just sewed some green fabric into 'vines'. works for me. I love those little birds.

This quilt used a LOT of smaller fabric pieces. But it sure was tiring making all those blocks.

 

 

I plan on keeping this one for me. I will quilt it once I get Brenda's #5 off my frame. 

I don't even have a king size bed...only queen. haha   it hangs way over the sides.