A quilt top finished and donated. Challenge completed.

All People Quilt -  Final UFO Challenge for 2018.  Jelly Jive top - get it DONE!

  This is the quilt top that I finished at a retreat and just could not get back to it. I don't like it! My friends like it, one even offered me some fabric for binding.  So I was determined to "git'r done!"
And these next two pictures are of the completed quilt.

I ordered some wide backing. Never having used that before, I made a math error and so I inserted a bit of the binding fabric to make it work. I think it looks alright!

My friend quilted it for me, in a pink thread and I think that is good too! I decided to donate it to our local libraries "silent auction" in November. I recently received this letter from the library foundation.  My quilt brought $50 and in all, the library received $2,150.50 in proceeds. I am disappointed, that more was not given to the auction. But a UFO is done, someone has a new quilt I hope they love and some dollars were received by our library. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

December OMG finish

My OMG Goal for December was to finish at least 8 blocks to contribute to the CiL Nove-Dec block drive. 

It's December 15th and  well, the 8 flying geese blocks for CiL are done. This was the November and December block for the CiL Block Drive.  See the post here.

I am not happy with them. Some measure 12.5" and some are just a sliver shy of 12.5".  I had real trouble with fabric selection and even a worse time getting the individual geese blocks to come out at 3.5" x 6.5" unfinished.

I am putting them in the mail this week to Kat at Kat and Cat Quilts with a note of apology and permission to use them on the back of a quilt or to just toss them.

I took this photo Saturday December 12th.  And I know Patty won't have the OMG Finish Link up ready until the last week of December, but my next 2 weeks are really busy with family and Christmas prep. Also our daughter is coming home for this next week, her birthday is tomorrow the 16th. So this post will be on hold until I can link up with the December OMG link up.

ps:  It is 2:30 am on the 26th. I can't sleep, for some reason, so I am in my office space and thought I would check to see if maybe Patty had scheduled the linkup post for the December finish. Yes, she did. So I will post this and link up. 
I hope your past few days were wonderful. May the new year bring you and your family peace and many blessings!


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

A Final Entry to Finish It Up Friday!

A Final Finish for December!



Some finishes that I can finally show.   Our Loose Thread Challenges for 2018 were revealed at our Christmas party. We each drew from a brown paper bag -  a "shape", 2 colors and a "technique".  I selected  "Farm Animal", Red & Pink, and for a technique, Crazy Quilting.
This is the finished project:

Pink and Red Pig  with embroidered "parts names" and various stitches around the edges of each piece. It was very fun!  I did a small grid quilting in the background.

The backing was discovered at a quilt store about 2 hours from home, and there is a hidden zipper under the red heart piece.  I am happy with it. 


I did get 3 potato bags and 2 bowl cozies made for Christmas gifts. I will be adding in some packets of soup mix and a homemade tree ornament.

 Potato bags and the bowl cozies, upside down so you can see the outside. The teal colored one is for our daughter.

The same potato bags with the cozy turned right side up so you can see the inside. The one with the beer bottles is for our son.  It matches the backing in the quilt he got for his 50th Birthday!

I am linking this post up to Amanda Jean's final Finish It Up Friday!  I will miss reading her blog, seeing her amazing quilts and learning from her tutorials. I am glad the blog will remain up for reference. And I will continue to follow her on Instagram. 


I will continue to follow the bloggers I have discovered on Finish It Up Friday...you are bookmarked!  And I will post at Finished or Not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, and a few others as I discover them.  Thanks to all quilt bloggers!  You make my early morning meanderings so enjoyable. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Finished or Not Friday

Some finishes that I can finally show.   Our Challenges for 2018 were revealed at our Christmas party. We each drew from brown paper bag -  a "shape", 2 colors and a "technique".  I selected  "Farm Animal", Red & Pink, and for a technique, Crazy Quilting.
This is the finished project:

Pink and Red Pig  with embroidered "parts names" and various stitched around the edges of each piece. It was very fun!  I did a small grid quilting in the background.

The backing was discovered at a quilt store about 2 hours from home, and there is a hidden zipper under the red heart piece.  I am happy with it. 


I did get 3 potato bags and 2 bowl cozies made for Christmas gifts. I will be adding in some packets of soup mix and a homemade tree ornament.

 Potato bags and the bowl cozies, upside down so you can see the outside. The teal colored one is for our daughter.

same potato bags with the cozied turned right side up so you can see the inside. The one with the beer bottles is for our son.  It matches the backing in the quilt he got for his 50th Bday!


I am still working on flying geese blocks and having a difficult time. I am not sure why?

My great nephew had his first birthday party last Saturday and the Wednesday before, his grandpa (my brother) had a heart attack. All are in MN.  My brother looks pretty good, don't ya think?( in the middle in the back)

Smash cakes are the best!  Hooray!!!

I also have been working on these little fun projects.  A friend was making them and said she had found the idea on Pinterest. I dug around in my yarn scraps, Mr Busy cut 2 toilet paper rolls into 3/4" circles and I went to town. I thought I needed 10.  I have since recounted my kids and grands and great grands and spouses and significant others and need 12 + 2 if I want 2 for our own tree. I have already gifted 2 to our youngest granddaughter and her fiance. They were here for Thanksgiving and so I sent 2 home with them. They are in Loveland CO and hope to have a real tree this year.

I have 5 that need to be sent to AZ and 4 that need to stay here and one to go home with our daughter when she comes for her birthday and early Christmas on the 15th. So I have at least 4 more to make.



Thanks all, oh there was a "squirrel" project...but I'll share that a bit later. 😃

I'm linking up at Busy Hands Quilts : Finished or Not Friday!


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

CiL Blocks for November and December OMG Link Up

My OMG for December is to finish 8 of these blocks and get them sent off to Kat.

I am struggling with the contrast of the purples and what is in my stash. I love purple. It is one of my favorite colors!   But soft lavender and purple grays are scarce in my stash.

Here is the link to CiL Blocks for November and December. From Kat and Cat Quilts.

 I see aqua and even green in this photo. But I know that colors are often skewed when shared online. Kat says purple grays, soft spring purples.    I decided to cut my stash. It this a solid or a print?  I think it reads solid.  But then when I assembled it, I used it in both places.  UUGGG!  Guess in my eyes, it depended on what fabric it was used with!

 Here is the silvery lavender with a darker purple print. I think it will be OK?

Unhappy with my stash and scraps, but got several units shown below.

 Off to the fabric store I went in search of solids.  I have mostly medium prints, it seems! I did not buy a lot and the leftovers will go in my version of the scrap savers system.

Now I am on to finish eight blocks and get them off to Kat before the end of the year. I am hoping that my rather drab blocks with fit well with some others to make beautiful quilts. It seems that Kat and her angel helpers work magic with the blocks that are sent in.  I have enjoyed my participation in the CiL drive for all of 2018.  I plan to participate again in 2019.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

I'm linking up at Elm Street Quilts in the December OMG Link Up. 

OMG-November Finish Link Up

My goal for November was to get 1/2 the rows for Rick Rack Nines put together. That meant rows built and then added to make half the quilt top.  This pattern is set on point, sort of.  The rows are pieced and sewn on the diagonal. It will be a huge quilt. Hopefully big enough so it looks good on our king size bed. The quilt I use now lets the blankets and the sheet peek out a bit. Kind of like a slip showing ( when women wore slips,  that is!)  Kind of shows how old I am! :)

I had some issues with this one. I haven't done a quilt this big before. I haven't done the diagonal rows before!  And I made the 9 patches over the last several years as leaders and enders.  I discovered some are not 5" square and some are wonky!  I spent more that a few times unsewing, re measuring my 2" squares ( some are cut just a bit tiny)  I have learned a thing or two about cutting over the years!  Get the ruler line ON the fabric!  Nuff about my woes!

This is rows 1-8 being added to rows 9-14!  I sewed them in sets of two rows, then added 2+2 to make 4, then 4+4 to make 8. It seemed more manageable to me. My space is limited, my pressing station is just a regular ironing board. So I have to do what I have to do. Oh, look!  There is the zebra print that was in my first great grandbaby's quilt!

Most of my corners were good.

 Some not so good. Can you see the corner of the background fabric and the red hearts in the lattice that meet the next row.  Yikes.!  I guess in the big scheme of things , after it is all done , bordered and quilted the little oops will be hard to find.  I least that is my hope!

There are lots of seams so lots of chances to go wrong. Most of the problems were in pressing. If they nest on two rows, not necessarily on the next two. I do love looking at all the little 2 inch squares and remembering the fabric. The Dalmatian dog print was in a casserole carrier for a friend who loves dogs. The green and red plaid  woven fabric in a wall hanging that was one of my first projects. The red clamshells to the left of the plaid, was in the Airplane quilt for Mr Busy! So many memories and I only purchased background fabric.


So it is hanging on my design wall, too long and already too wide!  I will sew the next half working my way back to the middle, then sew both halves together. Not in December though, too busy. My OMG for December will be doable, I hope.

So here is my OMG Finish for November.  I am linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts. November Finish Link Up. 



Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Chubby Little Heart Shaped Pincushions and some progress

I have been struggling the last two weeks.  I am in a FUNK!  And I am not sure why!

The first Wednesday of every month, I sew with my Loose Threads group. We had to cancel our October retreat because the Resort we go to, had a water well fail!  Not their fault but we were all sad. At our meeting we decided to try to do an "In Town" Retreat in January. November and December are all so so busy and traveling in any winter month in Wyoming is iffy at best! So it is set up to sew at our local library for 3 days. We can't carry in, they don't have kitchen facilities. But we will call for take out and then the last night, we plan to pack up , then go out to dinner somewhere. We will sleep at home, in our own beds, but sew sew sew for 3 days.! It will be fun!

So you would think, I would be in a better mood!  Hmmmm!

I did finish two pincushions that were on my November APQ (All People Quilt ) Challenge, for November.

I started with a pattern and two fat quarters from a bundle I have had for "years". You can see the Pink Ribbon fabric. The whole bundle was Pink Ribbon themed. It was serendipitous that this was the project chosen for November. In November of 2000, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and by December16th, I had a mastectomy. Chemo started on New Years Eve and I was finished in March. A whirlwind of a time. I have been cancer free since, so 18 years this week.

I also picked a third fabric, a pink pin dot, that upon examination, had fades slightly on the fold lines. Showing its age, for sure. That fabric was for the tie at the top, so it did not show the fading and they turned out cute!

 Two fat quarters make two pincushions. The directions called for plastic pellets in addition to the fiberfill. I did not have pellets, used some walnut hulls instead, but that did not work very well.  I would do it different another time.

I also have been working at sewing diagonal rows for my Rick Rack Nines quilt. It is a slow process, but that is ok. My goal is to get half of them done by the end of November. My design wall is not big enough to do the whole quilt at once. So half and then the other half.

I have rows 1-8 sewn together. Row 11 is the lone one above. 

Rows 9-10 are on the ironing board, awaiting pressing. I have been sewing 2 rows together, then the two rows to the main part. It seems to be working well. There are lots of seams to "nest" and press!

When I take photos like this one, I realize that I may need to spend some time straightening up my space!  YIKES!


I am linking up with Finished or Not Friday with Myra at Busy Hands Quilts and
at TGIFF with AlyciaQuilts this week ( I am a newcomer here)

Ten people for Thanksgiving, so I am off to plan, plan, plan.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy