A T-shirt Christmas

Amid the multitude of Christmas activities and events in our household the sewing room and dining room table were in T-shirt quilt mode.  And the quilting elf finished with time to spare.  By two days before Christmas the dining room was ready for family gatherings again.

DS had dropped off a tub this fall and sweetly asked if I could make a quilt from his lovely bride's old t-shirts.  Of course!  Then the bomb...queen size please???   (Sigh)  I've made a lap size and a couple twin size, but never tried to wrestle one that big through my machine.  Well, here goes...  It turned out beautifully!

92 inch square t-shirt quilt
(Please ignore where I've digitally covered the blocks with her name to respect her privacy.)

There weren't quite enough shirts, so I added one of my own that was a Parent's shirt from one of their college activities.  It fit right in!  Can you see it?  The gold in the lower left.  A border of 6.5 inch squares cut from the extra t-shirt material helped make it large enough for their bed.  The backing is light gray no-pill fleece.  It should be cozy warm even without batting.

The most adorable shirt was one from her childhood. She was the flower girl for a cousin's wedding. The shirt says "Flower Girl  One step ahead of the bride."  So cute!  (It's the pink flower one near the center.)

A couple new tricks were used this time, and they really worked!
First, I pressed the seams open.  Later, my first stabilizing quilting was to use the walking foot to quilt 1/2 inch on each side of the seams.  The blocks were then mostly quilted with vertical, horizontal or diagonal straight lines using blue masking tape to keep my lines straight.  Super easy.
Second,  I used the Publisher program on my computer to make squares that I could play around with and determine the layout.  This helped me decide how long each of the blocks needed to be to make it all fit.  It was SO much easier than using paper and pen to do the math.  Blocks of all the same width made up a 80-inch row, then the rows went together.  The blocks don't match across and aren't intended to do so.  The borders were added last.  I didn't try to make the border blocks come out perfectly even either.  Just lopped the last block in the border off to fit.
Third, I pieced the fleece backing with a triple zig-zag stitch by just overlapping the two edges.  Nearly invisible!  So glad that worked.

With t-shirts on my mind, and considering they're expecting their first child, a baby T-shirt quilt quickly came together from my stack of Minnesota shirts.  They want a Minnesota theme to the baby's room.  I barely had enough shirts, but it worked.

Minnesota Baby 2016  36x40 inches.  Fleece backing.

And... just when you think you're all  ready to start digging in to finish up some UFO's during a cold Minnesota January....   DD arrives two days before Christmas and asks... "Can you please make us a really heavy and warm denim/flannel quilt?  Um....Queen size?   Here's two bags of old jeans."  Let's see.  Didn't I swear that the lap size one I made a few years ago would be the LAST denim quilt EVER???  That would be the one before I caved in and made the 60x72-inch quilt last May when DS asked for one for his birthday.  I wrote about it here.  Well, ok, just one more.... But why do they keep getting bigger?  LOL  Off we went to JoAnn's to get flannel.  And it was 60% off!

Looks like there's more quilting ahead in the New Year.  Hope your New Year is filled with quilty warmth and cheer!

Redwork Christmas finished!

So excited to finally have this quilt finished!  Five years in the making - it actually qualified as a UFO for most of that time.

It's hard to believe that it was five years ago that I went to the Quilting Expo and came home with my new Elna embroidery machine.  As the holiday season was coming up quickly, I tried downloading a few free embroidery patterns to try out.

A dozen redwork Christmas embroideries ended up in this sweet red and white Twin size quilt top.  Then it languished in the 'completed tops' pile for a long while.

In last year's push to finish up a few UFO's  I decided that a white fleece back would work nicely and pinned them together.  Then it sat another year in the 'to be quilted' pile.  I just couldn't figure out how I wanted to quilt it.

When I finally started quilting it up, there were tension problems with the free motion quilting.  Rip rip rip!  My machine just wouldn't cooperate.  Frustrated, I set it aside again.

It became my UFO goal for this fall, and finally was quilted and the binding put on - all ready to hand stitch in the waiting rooms when I drive my father-in-law to his appointments.  That took two months, but I finished it this week!  Don't you just love reds and whites at Christmas?

Of course, it took me so long to make it that we no longer have a twin size bed in the house.  LOL.

One major Christmas gift to finish piecing and quilt in the next two weeks.  Better get busy and stay focused!

Right Place, Right Time

Have you ever had one of those moments when you were in just the right place at the right time to get the bargain of the century?  I was so proud of myself for sewing more yards of fabric into quilts this year than I had purchased.... until now.

Yep, blew it right out of the water.  Stopped in the thrift store with a donation recently and took a look around while I was there.  This is what came home with me.

More than three tubs of fabric - at least 60 yards.  There were at least two completer kits for queen quilts, but most were fat quarter, half-yard or one-yard pieces of Thimbleberries. How could I resist!  It all averaged under $2 per yard.

I am so grateful to that wonderful quilter who decided she could pass these along!   And if you're looking for a little extra fabric from Thimbleberries quilt club 2004 I might be your gal.

Occasionally I have seen exchanges of small quilts or blocks, but they always want 'quilt shop quality' fabrics.  I've always been a bargain fabric shopper, so never felt that what I have in the stash was 'brand name' good enough.  Now, I have an ample stock to work with!

Friday update

Time for a update on what's been happening in the sewing room here.

Have you ever made a bed runner?  It's new to me, but at about the same time I stumbled across a panel of four State Park motifs in the 'orphan's box,' I found a book called "Quilts with Unique Borders" from Annie's Quilting.  The Classic Elegance Bed Runner designed by Julie Weaver fit them perfectly!

Here's the progress so far....

There are several narrow plain borders to be added, but I'm liking it so far.  Might be lovely up at the Cabin.  In retrospect, the color placements on the Courthouse Steps should have been uniform rather than the random placement.  Though they are the right colors for the panels, there is too much contrast between the greens and chocolate browns.  Live and learn....

There are several other projects in the works.  The kids dropped off a tub of t-shirts for a quilt.  Hope to get it done by Christmas for them, but it will be close.  There may not be photos because I always worry about privacy issues with that type of quilt.  Their names and the location can be easily deduced from the designs on the shirts.  Just know that it's looking great so far and will be queen size, so that will take some time!

And... I promised myself I was NOT going to do Bonnie Hunter's 'En Provence Mystery Quilt.'  I still have the last one in pieces and unfinished and three in line to be quilted.  Haven't touched 'Allietare' since August.   I plan to save the instructions for now and hope to make a small version next year.

But...I'm starting to cave in. Today I pulled fabrics from my stash and put them together.  I've done so many quilts in her really scrappy style and loved them.  But my scrap bins are getting low.  This time I think I'll try and use up some larger pieces of fabric.   What do you think?  The navy has roses similar to the yellow, but they don't show up well here.

The Angel Tree

Every year during Advent our church has an Angel Tree.  On each of the paper angels is written something that is needed by one of several charities that our church supports.  Some have baby clothes and gifts for the local Pregnancy Support group.  Some have Christmas gift needs for the local Women's Shelter.  Some have gift cards and other needs for our grief and pastoral ministries.

Most years I pick one that has a gasoline gift card.  This year, the first one I picked was "lap throw."   I thought I'd try for a gas card again, so picked another.  "Twin comforter."  OK, it's a sign from the Angels after all.  I went home and searched through my quilts.  Time to pass along some of the quilts I have made to someone who needs them.

Today a basket of seven quilts went up to the church.  Most are lap quilts and a few baby quilts.  Several were made as mystery or challenge quilts.  They were fun to make, and I learned some new skills, but never made them for anyone in particular and never used any of them.  A bit more quilting was added to the borders of two of them before they left the house, and of course they all went through the washing machine one last time too.

I'm usually too self conscious of my quilting skills to give away quilts like this, but strangely, I'm not feeling uneasy about it at all.  I guess the time was right to do some letting go.

Two new finishes

Sew excited this week to have the binding done on these two lap quilts so they can be officially called Finished!

Circa 2016 was the summer sew-along from Temecula Quilt Company.  My version doesn't have the pieced HST border.  I have to admit, I forgot all about it when I was putting on the borders.  Guess I was too anxious to get it done!  But I already was debating whether to use them in a different project anyway.  This one has no batting and a gray fleece backing.  I feel like I'm cheating when I do that, but it's light weight and warm!

Circa 2016 48x56

Something's Fishy is done too!  This one is from blocks that didn't work out in another project and ended up as a quilt all on their own.  This is a free on-line pattern by Maywood Studio.

Something's Fishy 44x55

To round -up this week's progress, a really old Christmas UFO is now quilted and the binding is ready for hand stitching.   AND I cleaned out my fabric closet, adding two shelves to hold Christmas fabric, batting and my stack of UFO's.  Looks like I accomplished more than I realized!

Auditioning the corners

original yellow corners

The past week or two I've been super motivated to get some UFO's finished up.  Good progress is being made - slow but sure.

This morning I came across the perfect red fabric for the final border on Courthouse Stars - a Fons & Porter design.  But first, there's a decision to make and I'm stuck.

Originally, a plain yellow block was put in each corner, but it's bothering me.

The corners want to be dark, and I'm not quite sure how to do it.  So here's a few samples.

Simple dark HST

Rail fence

Log cabin facing outward

Log cabin facing center

It helps to look at pictures, don't you think?  Right now I'm leaning to the Log Cabin facing center, but it might be because of the value of the colors.  Rail fence is probably the easiest. Now is the time to replace those corners before the border is added.

Time to use my "Ask a friend."  What do you think?  Time to vote, everyone!

Apple harvest finish

Another border fabric scrap turned up, and was enough to make a little table topper.  It's been hanging around for over 20 years (1994).  Time to move it along, don't you think?  Stack and whack style squares again.  This time I put little apple buttons in the centers.

When I was into French Sewing I made my daughter this dress from an apple print stripe.  The stripe of the fabric can just barely be seen in the skirt. The bodice was made of strips of the same fabric woven together in a basket-weave, so don't go by that.  It was an interesting technique. (That's Minnesotan for "I only did it once and won't do it again."  lol)

We've been making home made applesauce the past couple weeks from apples my BIL brought from their family farm.  Makes the house smell so wonderful!  I love apples and autumn days!

Sew Tweet - Songbirds finish

This little baby quilt has been in the works since May and is finally finished!  It's machine quilted with Baptist Fans. The curves make a nice compliment to the straight lines of music.

I simply adore it!  Maybe it's because I'm a musician.  Who knows?

There was a photo of a similar quilt in an old magazine advertisement, and I realized I had a leftover piece of that background fabric from IKEA.  Of course I had to make it!  Sew easy!  Essentially a background panel with birds applique'd on top.  Even the border is a stripe fabric and not pieced.

ME and Dr. B. say that their nursery will have a north woods theme, but if they have a little girl maybe I can convince them that this one will fit their decor.  If not, I'll have to make another one. What a shame (wink.)

Circa 2016 top

Unexpectedly, I had time to work on a quilting project last weekend at the lake between mulching leaves and pulling out boats.  Circa 2016 from Temecula Quilt Co. came up north with me.  It went together more quickly than expected, and today I finished putting the borders on.

My little pieced blocks are in fairly random order.  Following the exact placement just didn't want to work out.  Sometimes I hadn't made the block, other times the colors I used didn't look right.  (Whatever possessed me to use gray backgrounds on a few??)

Fortunately, I had made enough extras of my favorites and it all worked out.  I even have enough left over to make a couple of small quilts for gifts.  Stay tuned!

Temecula Quilt Co. has pulled the free pattern off their blog now, but it can be purchased from their web site.

Fishing for ideas

The last round in the Gwennie sew-along was to add 'something fishy.'  Seemed easy at the time!  lol

In my files I actually found a quilt pattern called "Something's Fishy," a free pattern from  Maywood Studio that I had downloaded.  You can get the free PDF file HERE.  Super cute!  Looked easy, and it was.  But..... it just didn't flow with the rest of the quilt.

Blocks were out of scale (no pun intended!)  I used some of the same fabrics used elsewhere in the quilt, but they looked wrong and just didn't POP.

So, I added a touch of lime green and they became their own quilt top.

The Gwennie sew-along is finished, and mine has been speaking to me all month saying "Don't add any more.  I'm done!"  So, it will stay crazily on-point without adding anything in the corners to square it up.  I'll try and find a nice Navy blue to add a 2 or 3 inch border and binding.  Quilting it with an all-over clamshell or scalloped waves design might take care of the 'something fishy' requirement, but I'm calling it good!

I'm giving up the guilt.  My quilt, my rules.  Right?!

And, I can log using up 3 yards of scraps for the Gwennie Medallion and 3.5 yards of scraps for Something's Fishy.  Now, that's going in the right direction!

The leaves are turning colors.  Autumn in Minnesota beckons.  It's time to turn from piecing to quilting for a while.  And there are quite a few UFO's in the closet that need some attention.

Here's to a productive quilting season!

Photo finish

Just a quick post to show this finished table runner made from border fabric.  The original post is here.  Quilting was done with a walking foot, and the binding is on.  It has an autumn look doesn't it?

I ran a little short on fabric for the backing, so I searched around for ideas and found an 18-inch pieced block to make that would fill in the gap.  A little whimsical for me, but it works.

The rest of this week I'll be scrambling to put together my quilting demonstration booth for Bloomington Heritage Days this Saturday.  Look for photos next week.  I'll be taking my new treadle machine "Peggy" with me for the day.  Praying there won't be rain.  I don't think she'd like that very much, even though there will be a small pop-up canopy!

If you're near Bloomington, Minnesota I hope you can stop in and see me on Saturday.  The History area will be open from noon to 6pm.   Heritage Days is being held on the grounds of Nativity of Mary Church and School.  Free park and ride from Kennedy High School and Normandale College all day.  (There's no room for parking on the festival grounds.)  Music, bands, food stands, historical re-enactors, bingo, inflatable games, car show, lots and lots to do...

Executive decision

A little clean-up was happening in the sewing room this week.  (There's a lot more to do yet! lol)  I came across some Ohio Star blocks and Courthouse Steps that I had been using for Leaders & Enders a  year or so ago.  Other projects are in the works now, and I realized that I probably wouldn't be making more.  So, an executive decision was made.  Time to put a top together and call it good!

A yellow border helps draw out the yellow centers in each Ohio Star.  But, I was a little short on fabric.

What to do?  Well, instead of piecing in several verticals, I went with one horizontal seam.  Odd, but it worked!

And from the front, it's hardly visible.  Makes me feel so connected with quilters a hundred years or more ago who 'made do.'

That little yellow block in the corner was my solution to matching the pieced 'half courthouse steps' blocks in the first border.  I didn't want to figure out how to make a pieced log cabin that looked right.  So lazy!

Here's the whole works so far.  I'm contemplating a piano key border next.  Or maybe it's just good enough as is is.  What do you think?  And should I swap out those yellow corners for a dark pieced block?  It's amazing how different quilts look in photos than in person - to me at least.

Gwennie Stars

Just a quick post to update this past month's sew-along.  The theme was 'stars'.   My quilt was asking for a dark background, so the stars are on a navy and blue mini-print.  I don't usually use these bright colors, but the center basket was an orphan block from a quilt challenge to use these particular colors and work out of my usual comfort zone.  Turns out I loved that quilt, and I'm loving this one too.

The stars aren't sewn on yet, but Labor Day weekend and the Minnesota State Fair are upon us, and it's crazy busy around here.  You get the idea though.

Looks like the next (and last) theme is 'something fishy.'  I browsed through my quilt patterns last night for an idea.  I have a free download of  "Something's Fishy" from Maywood Studio.  The fish blocks are on point, and will be just the thing to use for the four corners to turn this quilt back into a square quilt.  Serendipity!  I'll have to start searching the stash for fabrics.

So much fun to see how all the other quilts are turning out.  Every one a unique artistic creation.  No two alike!  Love every one of them.

Tiny pieces

This week the pieces going through my machine have been tiny!  My 1-inch bag is nearly empty, as is my 1.5-inch bag of scraps.   First I worked on some log cabin/courthouse steps alternate blocks to a sew-along from Quilts by Cheri.  They used 1-1/4 inch strips.  An unusual size for me, but it really cleared out my scrap bag!  I've been procrastinating on the applique blocks that go with them.

Courthouse steps 10-inch blocks

Last week I gave away my little mini log cabin quilt, so I made another one.  That used up most of my 1-inch strips.

Log Cabins 11x14.5 inches

Cutting up the 1-inch strips gave me a bunch of little 1-inch square leftover pieces.  A quilt in this month's American Patchwork and Quilting caught my eye.  It featured cheddar blocks in a 9-patch arrangement.  I had some bright cheddar yellow in the 1.5-inch bag that just seems too bright to use for anything.  Bingo!

My interpretation of their Cheddar Broken Dishes quilt used itty-bitty 4-patch blocks with the cheddar yellow.  Those 4-patch blocks finish at 1-inch!  Seriously tiny! It's not easy to work with pieces that small. They tend to twist on me as they go through the machine, and things get wonky.  But it's fun to get those scrap bags cleared out!  I even used up some leftover binding pieces to make a multi-colored binding.

Cheddar 4-in-9 patch  18x22 inches
Binding is just pinned for now.

No more tiny projects for a while.  Nothing left to work with in those scrap bags!  If there's a mini quilt that catches my eye, I'll have to up-size it and start using scraps from my 2-inch bags.  Truly though, I need to get motivated to quilt up some UFO's instead of constantly starting every new project that catches my eye.

Fruit on the table

Last week's table runner from a border fabric was so much fun that I did another one!

There was one more piece of border fabric in my stash - fruit this time.

 It cut into five identical blocks, and here's how they ended up.

There's not quite enough for the backing, so some creative piecing happened.  Just have the quilting left to do!

From border to table runner

leftovers

While attempting to clean off my desk this week I came across a new-to-me quilting book:  'Wonderful 1 Fabric Quilts" by Kay Nickols, 2007 AQS.

I had picked it up this summer at a book sale that benefits our police department outreach program.  Usually the kaleidoscope-type patterns need 6 or 8 identical pattern repetitions to work.  But, in the back of this book is a table runner and it can work with as few as 4 repeats.

Coincidentally, a while later I was going through a bin of fabric in my laundry room.  Out popped an 18x64-inch piece of border fabric left over from a skirt I made, oh, maybe 30 years ago.  The repeat was 15 inches, and I could get exactly 4 identical blocks out of it.  Score!  I was off and cutting.

It was only after I had stitched together the pieces that I realized I forgot to take a 'before' photo of the border fabric.  Pooh!  There wasn't much leftover, but this might give you an idea.  There was a thin sliver left.

The four identical 15-inch squares were cut diagonally in an X.  Then, by arranging the resulting triangles in mirror image patterns I came up with a pretty good plan.  Had to be careful because all the edges are on the bias.  A little spray starch helped a lot!

It quilted up quickly last night, and I hand stitched binding while in the waiting room during my FIL's eye doctor appointment today.  All done, and at home on the cedar chest in the living room!

20 x 50 One fabric table runner. Super easy!

Stitching along...

painting aprons

This week the sewing room was busy - a retreat from dealing with the impending sale of our childhood home.  I've machine embroidered 8 aprons for a family Women's Retreat day this Saturday.  The pattern was free from Urban Threads a few months ago.  The "sisters"and their "daughters" (by birth or marriage) are going to get together for some family time, games, a painting lesson and lunch.  Should be fun!

The other thing I've been up to is playing  with log cabin blocks for my Basket Medallion quilt.

The first round in this sew-along was "a basket", and I used an orphan block.  Second round was "childhood" and I made Sister's Choice blocks because my childhood memories always include my sister. Third round is "log cabins", and my Circa 2016 got me started on these tiny ones using 1-inch strips.  I had to press and re-square each round, but they turned out pretty well.  Here's an update on how it looks so far....

Basket Medallion rows 1, 2 and 3

The next round will need to have a dark background, don't you think?  We'll see what happens when the next theme is revealed in August.  This has been such fun, because the parameters are so open that every sew-along quilt will be totally different, yet we're all working together.  

On another note, it's been odd to see my page view statistics lately.  Over 200 views from Russia in the last week. What's that all about????

A new home for Peggy

For several years I have had a quilt demonstration booth at our local Heritage Day festival.  I've always thought it would be great to have a treadle sewing machine that could be a hands-on part of the display. (Maybe feet-on is more accurate.)

The Museum has several machines, but the only one that appears to be in working order is an 1870's Wheeler & Wilson.   I don't want to risk moving it around and using it outdoors at a community festival.  Way too much risk of damage!

So, on a whim I checked out Craig's List for a treadle machine this past week.  And I found "Peggy."  She runs like a charm, and as soon as I can get some practice in I think we'll make a great demonstration team.

Introducing.... Peggy!

Her Damascus badge and decals are very worn,
but she runs smoothly and sews a nice seam.

She's a Damascus Vibrating Shuttle Treadle sewing machine sold by Montgomery Ward.  I've been trying to find out more about the machine, but very little is available.  It seems that "Damascus" was a badge name put on a National Sewing Machine 'Eldredge' model made specifically to be sold by Montgomery Ward.

Her serial number under the bobbin cover is 2901079 with the letter Z stamped above the serial number.  Unfortunately, it looks like nobody kept a listing of serial numbers and dates for the National Sewing Machines.  The machine belonged to the seller's grandmother, Peggy, and they thought it was made around 1902.  Without a doubt I had to name her after Peggy, don't you think?

There might be some clues in the manual that came with her.  First, there is no copyright date.  This might indicate that it was made before copyright dates were printed on the manuals.  I found a manual on line with a copyright date of 1925.  From the photos in that manual, I can see it is clearly a newer model machine version than mine, so I will conclude for now that "Peggy" was made before that year.  Montgomery Ward was an Eldredge customer as early as 1889 for badged machines.  The chain lift technology for the cabinet was patented in 1902-1909, so that gives me an earliest possible date.

Original manual!

A second clue is a number in the top left corner of the manual cover. 10M-2-23-Irwin   So, maybe it was made as recently as 1923.  So, for now I have about a 20 year age range: 1902 - 1923.

 There are a few people who have on line conversation threads about Damascus machines, but the conversations I have found are three to ten years old.  In fact, some of the sites haven't been updated or posted in years and many of the links don't work.  I doubt they are still checking or involved in those web sites after all this time. (Maybe there is hope that what we put on the internet won't last forever after all!)

Piecing away in the rain

It's been a wet and stormy couple of days here.  Lovely weather for time at the sewing machine!

First off, I completed a UFO row from a row-by-row that I started a couple of years ago.  Each month has a row.  Whoo Hoo!  August is finished!  (I have now also discovered that long skinny rows are super hard to photograph. But here it is lined up on the patio steps.)

 







And, I've been keeping up with Circa 2016 blocks. The little Shoo-Fly blocks from last week are adorable!  I had such fun making a whole bunch.  Yes, I know I only need two.

Shoo Fly blocks

This weeks' blocks were Friendship Star.  The little gray and red one that didn't want to lie flat for photos is so sweet, but it won't make it into Circa 2016.  My background fabric is also gray, so it won't show up well.  Not to worry, I'll find another use for that little cutie.

Friendship Star blocks

As for the rain... There was a thunderstorm late Saturday night that gave us 3.1 inches in the rain gauge.  Then another storm swept through Sunday night, and Monday it continued to rain.  We dumped another 3 inches out of the rain gauge after lunch.  By dinner time an additional 3.5 inches had fallen.  My sister stayed up for the week, and we'll get a final total tomorrow, but that's already 9.6 inches of rain in less than 32 hours!  

And at home a mere 2 hours drive south... not a drop.  The storms are tracking north.  But, the evening meeting I came home for was cancelled. Yippee!  Time to do a little more piecing.  Log cabins are on the agenda.

Keeping up with the Quilters

A busy summer here, how about you?  But I'm keeping up with a couple of sew-alongs.

Temecula Quilt Company's "Circa 2016" has us make two blocks each Friday.  Haven't made this week's blocks yet.  They've given me pause.  The pieces are awfully tiny and my machine doesn't like pieces that small.  Chews them right up because of the wide feed-dogs.  (sigh)  But here's the last few weeks blocks...

And there's a Basket Medallion sew-along going on too.  Lots of freedom with this one. They give you a theme and you just run with it in whatever direction your heart desires.

I had one orphan basket block, so thought I'd use that for the center theme which was selected in May.  The June theme for the next row was 'childhood.'  My childhood days were spent playing with my sister, so I chose to make Sister's Choice blocks.  They ended up an odd size because I used bonus HST's that were 1-3/4 inches square.  So, I added a narrow tan border to make things match up.

Here's what it looks like so far, and I'm lovin' it!

(The little basket in the corner was another option, just in case the on-point plan didn't work out.)

Have a great weekend!

The rescued quilt top

Just checking in from tropical Minnesota.  Whew!  Summer is officially here!

This week there's a new addition to the WIP pile.  While taking a quick look through the fabric at our local thrift store I was amazed to find this beautifully made quilt top just waiting for a new home.  (As if I don't have enough tops that I've made in the pile ready to be quilted!)   How could anyone let it sit forlornly at the store, unwanted and unloved?   It took about a minute to decide it needed to come home with me.

Does anyone recognize the pattern or designer?  I wonder if it is from a class, or block of the month.  I couldn't come close to buying that amount of fabric for what the price was. And it was 25% off because it was Thursday.  OK with me!

I doubt I'll ever know who pieced this, but I hope I can finish it for her, and perhaps then donate it to someone else who will enjoy it.

Gifted Concerto

Violin Concerto has found a new home.  A family friend was in a skiing accident and has a long recovery ahead.  As a youth, he played the violin.  Perfect fit!  It was gifted this afternoon.  Should be a good size for a lap or wheelchair quilt.  I was glad to see how well he is doing!

In another re-use of scraps:  The next Circa 2016 block was posted and I WAS able to use the leftovers from last week's blocks. Last time, I used the Magic 8 method to make the very small HST's. The block used 12 of the 16 HST's that were made.  Those leftover 4 pieces fit right into this week's block!  Can you see them?