First Finish of the Year

January is when I usually get motivated to quilt up some of the tops in the "to do" pile.  The first one to be completed in 2019 is Secret Santa, the December sew-along Mystery from Temecula Quilt Co.   I love it!  Burgoyne Surrounded has long been a pattern I've admired, but never had the desire to take the time to piece.  But, step by step as a Mystery quilt, it seemed the quilt was done in no time at all! 

Secret Santa 83 inches square

Four additional blocks and some borders made it big enough for our queen size bed.  The narrow inner border, and the outer border are both dark brown to match the brown center square in between the green squares.   A Christmas tree border stripe from my stash nestles right between.  

An on-line search of vintage Burgoyne Surrounded quilts revealed that many of them were quilted with simple diagonal lines.  I also stitched diamonds around the pine trees in the border stripe.

Quilting close-up: Secret Santa 2019

I can totally see this one going on our bed every December.  Do you have a favorite Christmas quilt?

Not Scared of being different

Here's a bright and fun little leader-ender project on my design wall. 

The problem was what to do with a whole bunch (maybe 50!) of Scarecrows that were 2x3 inches. 

They were leftovers from some children's clothing I made years ago.  I just couldn't think up what to use them for.  The can't be squared up without cutting off part of the design. 

Well, there's no reason that the center of a log cabin needs to be square, and no reason that the logs have to be the same width.  So... ta da!  A little math and we're on our way.

The center block is cut 2" by 3".  The side logs are cut 1-1/4" wide.  The top and bottom logs are cut 1" wide.  Two rounds make a 5 inch block, all nice and square. 

Don't you think that white sashing will set the colors off nicely? 

I'm not sure what size quilt this will make.  Maybe several small quilts, or two baby quilts.  Anyway, it's using up some tiny pieces and makes a great leader-ender. 

Good Fortune Flimsy

It's always great to start off a new year with Good Fortune, and here it is in my sewing room!

Good Fortune 81 inches square

Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville always does a fabulous job designing a Mystery quilt to keep us busy over the winter months. 

I simplified the borders quite a bit.  I have to admit being lazy.   I just didn't feel like trimming down all the little bonus green triangles.  I'll use them for another project someday.

Another quilter had posted her version of Good Fortune, and had turned every-other square in the pieced border so that it formed a ribbon border.  I decided to do the same.

Now it's ready to quilt... I think.  Still debating whether to add one more border in blue so it will fit our bed better.  But for now, I'm calling it done.

Remembering Cheri with SNOW

Don't you just love this adorable January Block in the Remembering Cheri series?  Such a cute little snowman!  I used some snowflake buttons that I had on hand instead of applique'.   You can barely see them in the photo. The holly in his hatband is a button too. The snowman fabric and buttons were from my Dad's pajamas.

Looks like the whole country is getting hit with snow this weekend but nothing here in Minnesota.  Sigh.

Good Fortune in 2019

In between all else I really have been trying to keep up with Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune Mystery Quilt.  

The start of Good Fortune!

The final reveal came out, and I put together two blocks just to see what they looked like.  Then I packed up the rest of the pieces to take along on our ice fishing trip this weekend.  Yes, the sewing machine will be coming along!

I've made a couple small adjustments to the instructions.  In my stash was a nice rich gold fabric with orange/peach roses.  I love it, and it's been in the stash way too long!  So, instead of string piecing orange - which I have almost nothing of in my stash- I went with the gold as a solid piece.

My other time-saving change was making most of the blue half-square triangles by the Magic 8 method.  I don't think you can see it, but the lower left blue HST is actually a pieced cut-off from my On Ringo Lake border.  There are going to be about a dozen of those sprinkled through the quilt.

And, for the sake of just getting this one done, I'll probably use yardage pieces instead of the string-pieced neutrals in the border.   Most of my narrow neutral strings have been used up in recent leader-ender projects anyway.

This quilt will finish smaller than queen size, so I might add another solid border of the gold to make it a more usable size for our family. One step at a time.

It looks like this is my 400th blog post!  That's a great milestone to start off a New Year.  Thank you for stopping in and quilting awhile with me.

Linking up with Quiltville to share my progress at : https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2019/01/mystery-monday-link-up-reveal.html

A run for the border

In Old Westerns "a run for the border" was an attempt to escape the law.  If you're hungry, it's a stop at Taco Bell.  But for us quilters it means that a quilt top is nearing completion and it's time for a run to the fabric store for more border fabric!

Plans for how to finish my Secret Santa quilt (Temecula Quilt Co. free on line sew-along) have changed a couple of times.  You may recall I had planned to piece a border of Christmas tree blocks.

Secret Santa top - 81- 1/2 inches square

Well, I was digging for green fabrics to use and stumbled across a wonderful green Christmas stripe... with Trees on it already!

Originally purchased with the idea of a Christmas Stack'N'Whack type quilt, it languished in the stash until now.  Out it came, and there was enough!  Could a border really be this easy?  Well, mitering the corners might count as a challenge.

Doesn't that border give the quilt Scandinavian look?  It reminds me of the intricate Norwegian  knitting designs on mittens and hats that you often see here in Minnesota.

A run to JoAnn Fabrics for another yard or so of the brown fabric used in the first border was just what I needed.  On it went!  A pop of red for the binding sounds like a good idea, so I've cut some red strips and and set them aside.

This quilt might be at the head of the line for quilting up this winter.  Now that the holidays are behind us it's time to start quilting up some more tops!

Year End Recap

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone.  The New Year 2019 is full of promise.  We were greeted by a stunning sunrise, all pinks and oranges, this cold and crisp morning.  Hopefully, some quality time will be spent quilting today, and all through the year.

The first order of business is to see what was accomplished last year.  Counting my bag of used thread spools we find that 18,650 yards of thread passed through my machine.  Wow!  Wish I could find a cute craft idea that would use those white plastic spools, but I haven't found anything yet.

Twenty quilts were completed in 2018:  4 Queen size, 2 Lap size, 4 Baby quilts, 7 table top quilts, a wall hanging, a table runner and a mini-quilt.  This year my quilting is much denser and I've done more free motion quilting successfully.  The discovery of Crayola Ultra Washable markers to draw in my quilting lines has been amazing!

I pieced my first selvage-edge quilt blocks this year, and enjoyed learning that skill.  With the passing of quilt designer Cheri Payne, I have also been trying primitive piecing and applique blocks.  One of her quilt designs was completed, and another is in progress.  Her philosophy of making each primitive quilt block uniquely your own, rather than following her exact pattern, has been freeing.  I am now comfortable using her pattern as a guide, and taking it in my own direction.  No guilt!

This past year my embroidery machine was humming too as I stitched designs on dish towels and aprons for the Ashland, WI museum, and my daughter even sold a few at a craft sale up there.

Of course, there's a UFO list to finish in 2019.  Here's what I have in progress....
7 tops ready to quilt (queen and twin sizes)
5 tops ready for borders to be cut and added
3 quilts with blocks completed but need sashing
2 quilts still piecing blocks
4 types of blocks as leader-ender or scrap clean-out projects
1 Storm at Sea that's still not started, but getting close

Wishing you all a New Year filled with quilting adventure and creativity!