Stars and Scrappy Stripes

 

It's all done. 

This is my latest scrap buster and it busts those little 1 1/2" pieces, you thought were safe to throw away! LOL!!

I stumbled on this pattern saved in the file of a zillion quilts, I thought I was actually going to be able to complete in one lifetime. How many of you have files like it on your computers?

This one was from the Alamosa Quilter, way back from 2014. Best yet, it's still on her blog.

You can find the pattern HERE.

I added a few additional rows and the sashing and scrappy border to mine to make it a nice picnic size quilt. Now I have visions of bright stars and more planned stripes for a baby quilt. You never know, it might happen.

Check out her tutorials tab while you are there. She has an awesome pattern for a circle wallet, I can't stop making right now, as well.

The sun was just rising when this photo was taken. While the colors are not true, the glow just warms my heart.

Wonder what project I can find to sink my teeth into next???

 

I'm Still Here...and Scrapping Away

 It seems like I've fallen off the face of the earth, but I promise I have not. I've been down in the sewing room every second of the day I can squeeze in.

You know how much I love my scrappy quilts, and when Bonnie Hunter announced her mystery last November, I knew it was going on the top of my list of things to do.

This year's quilt was...

The colors just melted my heart, and of course, that of a certain 5 year old who claimed it was hers before it was even done. LOL!!

I kept up with each clue weekly and even had time to work on another of  her quilts at the same time.

This is "Kismet". I actually saw the quilt on the "Quiltville's Open Studio" Facebook page, during the mystery.  With the gentle prodding of one of the members, I decided to take on the challenge myself.

It was so much fun to work on, that I found myself staying up to all hours of the night piecing away on it. The string blocks are pieced on phone book pages. 

One might think that my scrap bins are about empty after all the Bonnie quilts I've done in the past year...but oh NO!! 

About the time I thought I was going to put them away for awhile, I found another pattern on my computer that I saved years ago. 

Hopefully I will have that to share with you soon!

Sew, what's on your list of to-do's this year?

 

Abundance

 I am so excited to share this post with you. 

I've been working for months on a paper piecing project that has really stolen my heart...

This is "Abundance" a Bonnie Hunter scrap quilt.

She named it that because of how many scraps are in it and she wasn't kidding.

To took over 11 yards of scraps (according to Bonnie) and much of it was done with as little as 1 1/2" scraps. See, there is a reason we keep tiny stuff!!!  HAHAHA

I love the optical illusion you get, because the white scraps are narrower. 

I would love to tell you I am now scrap free, but I would be a big ole liar!

For the world I don't know how that happens.

And that's what I have been up to!

What's on you sewing table?

Hamilton Gardens

I have finished the quilt I was piecing on our road trip/retreat in May.

It has to be one of my favorite Bonnie Hunter Quilts

This is Hamilton Gardens.

It's the greatest scrap buster for those crazy people like me, who keep every little scrap. I blasted through lots of things that most people would throw away! 

LOL!!

I am so enthralled with it, that I am seeing it done using beautiful Christmas fabrics and even a Halloween quilt, maybe with a lime green background fabric.

Who knows what will pop up here some day.

You likely saw Carol and I are kicking around a couple of blog hops this fall.

Halloween and Christmas. Don't get your hopes up, this quilt won't be done in holiday colors, for either of them, but we are thrilled with the response we have gotten. 

The hops are a "GO" and we will be getting more information, the logos and the official sign up out, very soon.

A big thanks to all of you for the sweet emails you sent.

 

I'm Back...

You haven't heard from me much lately, but I'm still here and I've been busy...

This is my latest finish.

Rockability Swing

 It's another Bonnie Hunter scrapbuster. 

This one is a biggie. It's 108" x 108" and all paper pieced.

I forgot just how much I love paper piecing until I started on this.

There are over 300 blocks in this one and it did make a dent in my scraps,

 but honestly not as much as I thought it would. 

Maybe that's just a sign of how big my scrap pile really is.

LOL!!

My longarm is only 10' wide, so I had to quilt it in 3 pieces. 

The center is one big piece. Then I quilted 2 rows separately and added one to each side, using the quilt as you go method. 

It's big and fits my king size bed perfectly!

It's fun to look at all the different fabrics in scrappy quilts. Hearing the grandies squeal, when they find something like spiders, Santa or princess fabrics makes me laugh. Yes, there is Christmas, Halloween, Princess and everything in between in this.

In May, a friend and I took a road trip...

It was a quilting week for both of us, that started at MSQC.

We rented a house, in front of their warehouse for a few days and enjoyed shopping and quilting.

The little house was "Pipers Place" that was recommended on the MSQC website and was a perfect place for our needs.

We headed south after that and spent the rest of our time at a wonderful AIRBNB in Branson Missouri.

From there we took a day trip down to one of my bucket list places.

I've never been to Arkansas and honestly, I didn't think we would ever find the place.

It was 3 1/2 hours of driving thru dense forests on curvy roads and having no idea where the heck we were. If the GPS had failed us, they would still be looking for us. LOL!!

But WOW...was it worth every minute of drive time.

Rows and rows of fabric...by the bolt, by the yard, by the bundle..

We didn't even see all the the warehouse in the time we were there, it was just soooooo big!

But my credit card said that I had done enough damage and it was time to leave.

HAHAHA

(but seriously, you can not beat their prices)

Lets just say, at least 180 yards of fabric and a roll of batting followed me home. 

My friend did just about as much damage as I did, as well. 

We had rented a full size car for the trip and when we picked it up, we were shocked at how small a full size car was, but we made it work. Who knew you could cram so much into a car that size.

If only I had taken photos of that!

LOL!!

 

Unchained is Officially Finished

 It's been a minute...

Or a month, or even half a year. Time flies when you're having fun!

But I am happy to say, that "Unchained" is officially complete.

You all know that I am a huge scrappy quilt lover and Bonnie Hunter is my go to girl for them.

I fell in love with this one with X's and O's on it when I first saw it. It was a great scrap buster and heaven knows, I have scraps. LOL!!

You really have to stand back to see the design emerge. Up close it looks like scrap soup! HEHEHE

I started this one on a quilt retreat in New York last year where I managed to get all the blocks pieced. Once I was home, I put the top together and the blue sashing. Then the holidays seemed to take over and it was pushed back in a corner for way longer than I had planned. The border was so simple to piece, using phone book pages, that I had to wonder just why it took me so long to get back to it.

Anyway she is done and I love it.

Now on to Bonnie's, Hamilton Gardens quilt. It's all cut out and ready to go. 

If playing doesn't get in my way next week.

LOL!!

Summer is right around the corner and I am so looking forward to sitting out by the pond and enjoying the warm weather. Followed no doubt by complaining it's too HOT!

HAHAHAHA

 

It's My Day in the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop

We can all thank Bea, from BeaQuilter for making us pull those books off the shelves and put them to use.

My goal, while I had a couple months off from watching my grandies, was to actually clean up my sewing room. While it may not gone as well as planned, I did manage to go through my bookshelf.

The project I found was this sweet little scrap buster...

This is "Hugs and Kisses"

This pattern did not come from a traditional quilt book, but one of my binders of quilt patterns, I am going to do "someday".

It was on my bookshelf and yes, I did have to blow a little dust off of it!

Years ago, I went to a class on finding your creativity. It was an excellent class that focused on cleaning out the stuff you are not interested in, to make room for what you love. The instructor actually made us all bring a quilt magazine, and tear out the pages we loved and throw away the rest. That was the hardest thing to do, for everyone in the class. She also gave us each a journal that we were to paste the things we loved in. 

 To this day, I still love flipping through that journal for inspiration. It amazes me just how much it does get those creative juices flowing.

The biggest benefit from it once I got home, was I was able to take stacks of quilt magazines, pull out only the pattern I loved and throw away the rest.

Over the years, I've gone through my binders from time to time. I've added some things and tossed some. Just recently I separated them into seasonal, kids, and scrappy binders, etc...It makes it so much easier to find what I'm looking for. All my internet finds are printed and stored in there, as well.

This pattern is from 2007. While it took some searching online, I found there has been a name change to "Hearts and Flowers" and you can still find the free download  HERE.

Please stop by and visit my fellow bloggers today. 

They all have been cracking open the books lately!

March 7th

Quilting Gail

Thrift Shop Commando

High Road Quilter

Moosestashquilting (you're here)

Bea asked us to share our oldest quilt book...

Mine is this Dear Jane book published in 1996, but the quilt is from 1863!

 Have I made this quilt yet???

NO :-)

But this book from 2000 was from the first official quilt class, I ever took. They told me my colors were terrible. So motivating for a brand new quilter. It's funny how you remember those kind of things. I loved what I chose at the time, but in retrospect...they might have been onto something. LOL!!

None the less, I was delighted with my finish.

 "Little Green Apples" challenge/hop is just a few weeks away. We would love to have you visit!

Have you participated in our Sew It-Show It Challenge/hops?  Come on and join in on the fun!

Here are our themes for this year. Sign-ups are announced about 2 months prior to the start. You can read all about them HERE

You can even download the schedule HERE and start making your plans!

April bring us...

There's still room if your interested.

You can read more on it HERE

Just drop me an email with "SAY WHAT" in the subject line and the following information

Hugs and kisses to all!

til next time...

Keep on Stitchin'

It's My Day on the UFO Blog Hop

 Welcome to my day on the UFO blog hop. 

This post comes with a warning...it's very long!

"Alien's Among Us"

Here's a UFO, that I have no recollection of making, LOL!! Anyone else out there feel my pain?  It was double batted with wool and was in a tote full of projects that have never been quilted. I would love to tell you just what my thoughts were on this, but it's a mystery to me.  I quilted it up, using stitch in the ditch and added a few "Out of this World" appliques to fit the theme of this hop.

After that, I must have been taken over by said "Aliens" because something got into me! After finding 2 totes of quilts that were finished, but never quilted, I decided it was high time to get em done. Some were big and some were small, but in all I managed to get 15, yes 15 UFO's finished. I have to say, I am doing the happy dance here!

We were camping at Glendo State Park in Wyoming last week 

and our campsite was perfect for taking photos.

These 2 big guys are Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilts.

The top one is the 2013 Bonnie Hunter Mystery "Celtic Solstice".

The bottom is is her 2015 Mystery " Grand Illusion".

This is a "Stack N Whack" that was done long, long ago, maybe 2006 or 2007???

I was really hooked on them and have fabric for 2 more. If you never start them, do they still count as UFO's?  LOL!!

"Halloween Who Knows"

Don't have any idea what it was, or when I made it, but it's kinda ugly. LOL!!

I would blame someone for adding to my stack of UFO's, but I recognize the fabrics, so I must have done it. Either that or someone snuck in and stitched it while I was sleeping. Was that one of you???

 "Free flight Macaw".  a 2019 pattern by Dione at "Clever Chameleon Quilting". 

When we were Island Batik Ambassadors, she asked me to pattern test this for her.

It looks like she hasn't blogged for awhile. I know she moved to the Outback in Australia, and I haven't heard from her since. Hope your doing well, out there Dione!

"Stair Step Sampler". Pattern by Alison Vermilya at "Little Bunny Quilts". 

I actually cut a kit 3 years ago for a quilt retreat and never even started on it. Fast forward to this year, when my NY, NJ and PA friends were able to get together again for a retreat, and I actually got it finished. Not before I realized that I had forgot to cut part of the pieces! Eye roll here. I was able to find fabric that blended well enough anyway, and it's a finish. 

"Ready for Christmas"

Does this look familiar? It's a Carol Swift original...I went to Vegas last year and took a class from her. I finally got it quilted at the NY quilt retreat this year too! Carol's patterns are as fun as her classes are!

You can find her pattern HERE

"Words to Grow By"

 2020 BOM from Sew Incredibly Crazy and Friends.

It was so close but so far away. I added the borders and got it quilted. 

"Mariner's Star"

You just have to see it outside to appreciate the colors. This was done in my hand dye fabrics, to long ago to remember when, but it's possibly my favorite quilt now.

This 60" x 60" beauty is hanging by my longarm, to keep it company!

 "Stain Glass Angel"

 was designed by Deb Geissler at "Designs by Deb"

I'm lucky that we live just across town from each other. She held classes for this in her basement back in 2015. I'm sure she would have a heart attach if she knew I just now quilted it!

I added the lettering with "Crafters Edge" alphabet dies.

"Moose in the Pines"

This is a "Round Robin" quilt that Bea Lee, from "BeaQuilter" hosted back in 2015.

If your not familiar with how they work, you make your center block and the quilt label, then mail it off to the next person. Each person participating, adds a border and sends it on to the next person. You can see all the quilts on my post HERE.

It was so much fun to work on all the different quilts. Unfortunately for the most part, those days are over due to the crazy prices of postage now.

Lastly, 3 miscellaneous table toppers and runner.

I'm so happy to not only see all your projects this week, but that I managed to blast through a bunch of my own as well. If the aliens who took over my body feel the need to do so again some time, feel free to "Beam Me Up Scotty". I've got a couple of totes of projects that haven't even been started yet!

On a side note here...

I had to stop and read this twice!

I found this on Etsy HERE and think my sewing room needs this for sure.

LOL!

Hope you all have enjoyed the week with us.

You can find all this weeks projects posted on our Pinterest board 

HERE

Please visit my fellow bloggers today!

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Inflorescence

Words & Stitches

Just Sew Quilter